


A Golem's Life

by HailSam



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Body Horror, Dark Magic, Forced Pregnancy, Gangs, Gen, Golems, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Magic, Magical Pregnancy, Mind Control, Mpreg, Odd, Skeleton Pregnancy (Undertale), This is Bad, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, body control, it's a little, kind of convoluted, poor red
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:00:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 17
Words: 29,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21880600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HailSam/pseuds/HailSam
Summary: BB is an officer of the law deep in New York. The biggest part of the worst crime syndicate in the city has been arrested and brought in.The mysteries just pile on and on, but a terrified skeleton may be the key to taking them down.Too bad he's...well.These lips are sealed.
Relationships: Grillby/Sans (Undertale), Papyrus/Sans (Undertale), Sans/Sans (Undertale)
Comments: 188
Kudos: 115





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me:  
> https://twitter.com/sassyhaillive  
> https://www.pillowfort.social/HailSam  
> https://sassyhail.tumblr.com/
> 
> If you need on Pillowfort or even an invite here, let me know I'll help you out :)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> BB finds out some stuff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk how I came up with this but I can assure you it was within ten minutes while staring at my screen at work.

In this world, there are monsters, and then there are Monsters. What is the difference, you may ask?

The magick within them.

Monsters, such as the King and Queen, have extraordinary magicks. Boss Magick as they call it. It’s terrifying, brutal, and definitely battle-worthy. Going down a bit into Lesser Boss territory are the more ‘rare’ Monsters. Chief Undyne, as such, has Spear Magick, and Scientist Alphys has...well, unknown magick.

No one’s seen her magick, that is.

Now monsters are those whose magick is common or not as offensive. The Barblebee’s and the Shyren’s and the squid monsters, they’re all monsters. The thing is, monsters’ magick has varying levels.

Boss Monsters’ Magick is the same across the board. Lesser Bosses’ Magicks are at a lower level but still plateaued across all their kind.

The varying magick in monsters, however, is what makes them differ. You can have a squid monster whose magick is merely healing surface wounds, while their sibling can heal broken limbs or fatal injuries. You can have a Shyren whose musical voice can enchant nearly anyone, while a cousin may only be able to hum a few pretty words. All this to say, every monster is different with their levels. They all still have magick, just none of them would be Boss or Lesser Boss levels.

The other thing about Boss and Lesser Bosses is, they can last for eternity.

Oh monsters can live for quite some time, yes, that’s true. But a Froggit’s fifty years to a Shyren’s century is but pebbles to how long the royal couple has been alive. All monsters dust eventually. Pardoning any grievous injury or life threatening illness, a Boss Monster does not age until they have an heir in order to ‘give away’ their Boss Magick. Lesser Bosses are near the same, however over time, their hold on magick begins to wear on them.

Take Old Man Gerson. He’s a Lesser Boss, all hunched over but sharp as a tack. His magick is thin now, not enough to harm him or kill him, but enough that to him it feels like a chore to use. Should Old Man Gerson ever buck up and have kids, they would of course have his magick as Lesser Bosses themselves and he would begin to ‘age’ in a manner. More that the years catch up, in a manner.

It’s quite confusing, especially to human, so some just nod with a blank expression and go about their day. Monsters and monsters know the difference, but despite it, they still treat one another the same, pardoning war veterans like Gerson and the royal family of course, who deserve their respect. And the Royal Guard.

The Royal Guard is a set of soldiers meant to guard and protect the royal family. Technically figureheads, they stand in for all of Monsterdom in important World Wide Meetings. The humans greatly respect them, but even they are not immune from sudden attacks or attempts on their lives. So, the Royal Guard is ever vigilant as they follow them and keep guard around the home.

Monsters are kind and generous and gentle, enough that it’s generally accepted that if you need help and spy a monster, you know you’ll be safe.

…however…

Not all of them.

There are some that are truly the monsters who hide under your bed. They live in the shadows, conducting their illegal businesses with each other or humans. Human/Monster trafficking, drug trade, the ever addictive taste of pure magic sold in high prices to desperate addicts.

Gangs draw lines in the sand, much more stealthily than the human ones. They’re loud and brash, but when they meet, they’re willing to cooperate…in exchange for suitable ‘gifts’. 

This is why there is a distinct Monster division in the police force, all the way up to FBI status. Monster law is not so different from human, however they have different ways of bringing down judgment upon said rule breakers. No human juries are ever called in for monster criminals, albeit monsters may serve in them and would even become judges, lawyers, more. 

Judge Monsters, those who can ‘see’ into a monster’s soul, are few and far between. One stays with the royal family, in fact, and one lives in Florida according to their sibling, but they are hard to come by. But they are called in when things occur, such as a ‘turf war’ that ends in monsters dusting monsters or killing humans, the drug trade being investigated, or…anything else that violates their laws.

Now that everything’s been said and explained, let’s start with the…well, close to the beginning.

In New York, there exists two or three gangs. The cops don’t mess with one (very old money, a hand in every pot, etc. Etc.), one they keep an eye on but so long as they didn’t cause mischief they were fine (more of a graffiti and vandalism type of gang), and one…one that is so hidden it’s hard to know who’s even part of it, much less if it even exists. But it does. It exists in the shadows, large claws sliding out at night, dragging in the innocent and unwary.

They were a monster gang, and the only reason the police force knew THAT information was a very frightened Froggit spilling just the tiniest bit of information before bursting into tears over what they had experienced in the clutches of that gang.

They were bad. Deep Web of the Internet bad. The type of bad you sell your very soul to if you needed something illegal done, but just know you now owe them your very life.

The type of bad that an officer with hope in his eyes and a fire in his heart would be biting at the bit to take down and protect their city.

The type of bad _that didn’t make mistakes_.

So you can see why the entire force was on edge when a 911 call ends up with them storming an abandoned warehouse, arresting several members of said gang along with…well. They weren’t sure, entirely.

They knew who was proudly part of the gang by the way they kept quiet or cursed at them. The ones who weren’t, or were there by force, meekly followed or had tears in their eyes…and they were cuffed tightly by their wrists.

Not by the officers.

But by the gang.

So now, they had to sort all this out, trying to judge who to let in whose cell, who to separate from them all…

The fire elemental, dark and purple and arms crossed in front of his chest, definitely had the presence of a leader. Mostly since he just smirked and said ‘lawyer’ to whatever they said. They had to bring in the back-ups in order to do all the interrogations. They really, really did not want to screw this up, or make a victim stay in a cell with their captors.

So that’s why BB was called in at 3 in the morning on a Wednesday, carting a cup of coffee to an interrogation room…prepared for absolutely nothing.

——————————————————————————————————

BB was the only skeleton on the force. Not the only monster, by far, but the only skeleton. His other family members never quite got into this side of law as much as he did. He proudly wore the dark blues of his outfit, the scars over his eye socket shining fiercely with his purple eye lights staring into your very soul. Sadly, he wasn’t a Judge like his distant cousin, but honestly, he was fine with that. The mystery of the case was fascinating to him, and it felt so satisfying to reach the conclusion.

This…was going to take some time before it would be closed.

Across from BB, in one of their uncomfortable steel chairs, sat another skeleton. This one was a few inches shorter than BB, even more so with his head dipped down. He shook so hard his bones rattled, and the handcuffs on his arms-not theirs, as these were leather, but they had yet to free everyone from them-clanked fiercely. Enough that it sounded like large raindrops smashing down onto cars. He had red eye lights, sharp teeth and an odd gold tooth on the left of his mouth.

Despite his fear, and his heavy breathing, he didn’t seem in tears like the others. He just…looked at the table, his arms jerking every so often as he shook. Was he…just cold?

Which, made sense. All he had on were long white stockings and one of those odd shirts that slipped off one shoulder but held up by a strap, long enough to reach his knees but just above the stockings. On the shirt were little cherries and in bright letters, as if mocking him, read ‘CHERRY SODA’. The shirt was surprisingly clean, as were the stockings, and the skeleton himself. His arms were up in front of him, under his chin, as if trying to protect himself.

They had provided him some clothes, a white sweater and sweat pants, but all he did was stare at them and shake in place. BB doubted he even had pants on, at this point. The others appeared just as frightened as he did…

“SO…” BB began and the skeleton sucked in a breath, watching him with wide eyes. “WOULD YOU LIKE TO TALK ABOUT WHY YOU WERE THERE WITH…THEM?”

The skeleton blinked, shaking. Okay, he didn’t expect much, he supposed. BB put his cup down, lacing his fingers together as he leaned his chin on them. “WHAT ABOUT YOUR NAME? LET’S START THERE. THERE HAS TO BE SOMEONE MISSING YOU, YES?”

“…R-Red,” came the soft voice, his mouth barely moving. “Th-They call me Cherry, s-sometimes, but I like…R-Red.”

BB nodded, watching ‘Red’ intently. “OKAY. ARE YOU COLD, RED? I CAN GET YOU A BLANKET.”

“N-No,” Red shook his head slowly, although the way he shook indicated otherwise. BB frowned, but nodded.

“ALRIGHT THEN. COULD YOU TELL US WHO SOME OF THEM ARE? THEY’RE KEEPING EVERYTHING UNDER WRAPS AND IT WOULD BE…NICE TO HAVE SOME ASSISTANCE.” Be nice, BB, you get more flies with honey.

But Red flinched, hiding behind his hands with a sharp inhale. “I-I can’t talk about it.” BB leaned in, tilting his head. 

“IF YOU’RE AFRAID, WE CAN ENSURE THAT YOU’RE PROTECT-”

“I-I can’t talk,” Red whined out, his hands moving down as he lifted his chin up. A bright pretty red ribbon wrapped around his throat, a bow in the back. “Silence Is Golden.”

BB stared at him, a confused look on his face. “…WHAT?”

Red just shook his head, burying his face behind his hands again. BB sighed, nodding. “OKAY, OKAY. WOULD YOU LIKE SOME COFFEE AT LEAST?”

“C-Can I just, go back, please…?” Red wheezed out, as if the words were yanked from him with every breath.

BB hesitated. “I’LL…DISCUSS IT WITH THE CAPTAIN.” Red nodded, not looking at him as BB left the room, leaving the shaking skeleton to himself.

Red got his wish. One of the officers tried to unbind his arms like they did with the others, but unlike the others Red skittered back, shaking and panting as he shook his head. They couldn’t force him, so they let him back into the cell with the flame elemental who whistled with a grin. The skeleton scurried over, head bowed as he stood in front of the other, almost swaying in place.

BB grit his teeth. It was obvious that the flame elemental had abused the skeleton, but they couldn’t do anything unless they either had proof or if he asked for help. Stars dammit. He jerked his head away, heading off to his next interrogation.

——————————————————————————

It wasn’t exactly fruitless, but they hit a wall, certainly. Everyone was terrified of testifying, albeit the evidence was pretty heavy against this monster. Unfortunately, they needed someone to testify, or else everything would be poked at as circumstantial and they’d lose credibility. Criminals could spin quite the yarn, if they were smart enough.

However, on BB’s way out, the flame elemental was busy chatting on a cell phone off in the corner when BB saw Red, on the other side, eyes wide as he stared into space. BB checked to see if the flame was watching before he gave a small wave to Red, turning to walk by.

His arm was caught by something and he froze as Red stared at him, holding BB’s coat in his hand, a folded piece of paper pressed in his hand. BB stared back, nodding slowly as he took it and Red slunk back, slipping to sit on the bench and looking down.

BB nearly shook himself as he rushed out of the precinct. Was this it? The evidence they needed? A plea for help? What-

‘Fellby Flamestar, Dark Rise Gang. I am his Golem, and I know all about what he does. There is only one way for me to talk about it however, and I have to get away from him. Please help.’

All BB could think of was ‘what the fuck was a Golem?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is Golem too on the nose? I don't think so. Not for what I have planned.
> 
> But hey BB/Red pairing, what up. What's that called? PoisonCherry? Hm.
> 
> In other news. Enjoy this new thing that's totally going to also be a super big chaptered story that'll either make you cry or end up smut but like, we'll have fun heading there! Right? Right!


	2. Smuggle Him Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Red knows things, and they have to protect him from what this knowledge will do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty sure this isn't how Witness Protection operates but like
> 
> it is now!!! Haha

They interview Red again. BB requests Red, and Red looks up at Fellby fearfully, from where he had been pulled into the fire elemental’s lap. Fellby just shrugged, pushing Red off him and making him stumble. Red didn’t say anything, his head bowed as BB opened the cell, leading him out as Fellby looked smug as ever.

However, instead of the interrogation room, he takes Red to the one that’s more comfortable, for when they’re interviewing children or if it’s a case that has to be handled very, very delicately.

BB lets Red settle on the plush couch, albeit he doesn’t look any more relaxed. BB sighs, settling on the chair nearby. “…CAN YOU…TELL ME ANYTHING? AT ALL?”

Red just stared at him with wide eyes, and BB huffed softly, nodding. “I THOUGHT AS MUCH.” He paused, tapping his fingers on his knee lightly. “…YOU SAID THERE’S ONLY ONE WAY YOU CAN TALK. CAN YOU SAY WHAT THAT IS?”

Red gulped, his hands shaking in their bonds as he sucked in a breath. “I’m not allowed t-to try and…” he flinched, shaking his head. “…but if you a-asked…what _I_ need to d-do…I could answer.” His eyes held a plead in it, something BB wasn’t going to deny him.

But for a moment, he had no idea what Red was meaning. He had asked, and Red couldn’t say-oh. 

“…HOW CAN A GOLEM…TALK?”

Red shook his head quickly. BB grunted. Okay…

“IF A GOLEM HAD TO…TELL SOMETHING THEY COULDN’T…HOW WOULD THEY DO THAT?”

That seemed to be it. Red let out a short breath. “A Golem needs to get far, far away,” he whispered, his eye lights shaking a bit. “But a Golem has no Will. They have to…be wi-with someone. And then they could…ask them things.”

This was so far beyond anything BB knew or could understand, but stars damn it, he’d be a piss poor officer if he ignored the signs or let Red go back to what was obviously a horrible situation. BB nodded sharply. “…I’LL SEE WHAT I CAN DO. HERE.” He grabbed a bottle of water from the side water, handing it to Red. Red opened it and chugged it, like he was dying of thirst, so bad that his shirt grew wet at the collar. BB made a face. He really was in over his head wasn’t he?

“STAY HERE. I HAVE A FEW IDEAS, BUT I’D RATHER YOU NOT GO BACK IN THERE.” Red didn’t nod or agree, but BB could see he wanted to. All the same, BB left the room, stalking his way to the Chief’s office.

The Chief was a large bull monster with a ring in his nose, large horns and black fur. He took everything seriously, so much so no one quite knew when the last time he cracked a smile was. BB was truly in awe of the man, even if they butted heads sometimes over things. His name was Loki of all things, which was a surprise to many a human who met him. 

Chief Loki didn’t even look up when BB walked in, staring down at a large folder as he turned pages with his magic (having hoofs for hands was…detrimental at times). “What did you find out?” he rumbled, the beady eyes blinking before looking up at the skeleton.

BB huffed, crossing his arms after making sure the door was shut. “THE SKELETON CAN GIVE US INFO, OR AT LEAST A WITNESS WITH EVIDENCE. BUT THAT GANG’S DONE SOMETHING TO HIM. I DON’T QUITE KNOW WHAT, BUT HE SAYS HE CANNOT SPEAK UNLESS HE’S FAR AWAY.”

Loki snorted, which made his nose ring sway as he looked back at the folder. “That’s not so unusual. Going into witness protection and the like. However, I can’t just willy nilly send him to a safe house,” he grumbled, flicking another page. “We need to know the info he has is good to stand in court.”

BB nodded, gritting his teeth. Loki had a point. Sadly enough. “HE SAYS HE IS THE MAN’S ‘GOLEM’. GAVE HIS NAME AND THE GANG’S NAME TO ME ON A PIECE OF PAPER.”

Loki paused, the beady eyes rocking back up to look at BB as he tightened his grip on his desk. “…a what?”

“YOU’VE GOT ME ON THIS ONE, CHIEF.”

The bull let out a low sigh, ruffling the papers in front of him. “Let me see the paper.”

BB easily handed it over. The chief took it, staring down at it, his eyes reading it over and over again. “…bring him in here.” BB’s face scrunched in confusion, but nodded as he left. There was a way to get Red to the office without arising suspicion from those still in the cells waiting on lawyers, it was just a bit of a diversion from the usual path.

Red, for his credit, let BB lead him on, head bowed, stockinged feet tapping on the slick tiles of the station. BB looked back at him then stopped them both at the chief’s door. “I SHOWED HIM THE NOTE. HE’S GOING TO…SEE WHAT HE CAN DO.”

Red didn’t answer. At this point, BB didn’t expect one. He opened the door, leading Red to the seat across from the chief. Loki looked over the surprisingly dainty looking skeleton, another huff of breath as he tapped the paper in front of him. “You have information.”

“I…know…things,” Red bit out, as if it took all his strength to do so.

Loki nodded, eyes squinting as he stared over Red. “You do. The question is, if what you know warrants enough manpower to keep you safe.”

A clock ticked in the background, and BB stopped himself from making a biting remark at the chief. This was what they butted heads over sometimes, over what each other considered ‘worth it’ to investigate or not. Red took in a breath, opening his mouth, shutting it. He swallowed, looking away then back at Loki. “I-If you ask the r-right question, I m-might can answer.”

Loki tapped his hoof on the desk for a moment, thinking for a moment. “I suppose you can’t answer anything about this Dark Rise Gang-”

“If you ask the r-right question,” Red pressed, “I m-might can answer.”

Loki blinked, staring at him. “…there was barrels full of some kind of liquid, a drug,” Loki began. “Back at the warehouse. Could you…” he paused. “Tell me the chemical formula of it?”

Red sat up straighter, as if impressed in the way Loki had phrased it. “…yes. I can. It’s C16H12FN3O5.”

BB frowned, looking from Red to the chief. “ROHYPNOL? THAT-”

“No,” Loki rumbled. “The formula is wrong. The way that is written would cause it to become an acid, in a manner. Which is true. It’s an acidic drug that all we know causes monsters-”

“To melt,” Red stated with a hitch in his throat. “H-Horrible…horrible,” he mumbled looking down. Loki nodded, looking over at BB.

“The second closest safe house is about two hours out of town. Are you able to take this case or should I ask another?”

BB…at first would have been insulted that Loki had asked that. Then he would have had to think it over, because that wasn’t just a case. It meant going under radar, staying so far down that no one even knew what you looked like. He had a brother to think about, albeit his brother could honestly take care of himself, plus his own feelings…

But the soft teary look Red had as he stared down at the bindings around his arms…well it. Did something to BB. Deep in his soul. He cleared his throat, nodding quickly. “I CAN TAKE IT, CHIEF. JUST NEED AN ADDRESS.”

Loki grunted, shuffling through some papers, but all BB could see is the way Red’s eyes brightened just a little bit. More than the dim sad things they had been just a moment ago.

BB was truly unprepared on how deep this case would go.

———————————————————————————————————————

Cinnamon, surprisingly, was on board with helping BB out and going ‘on an adventure’, despite BB’s insistence it was much more serious than a simple adventure. The chief had agreed to let Cinnamon join him, if only because it meant making the possibility of Fellby finding out where they went all that much harder.

BB led Red through the underground parking lot slowly. He was very concerned over Red’s feet, but Red didn’t flinch as they walked. He stared down at his hands, the shaking subsiding just a little.

Cinnamon’s van was idling at the entrance, and he waved from the driver’s seat as BB opened up the sliding door. “Hey bro. So uh. This is happening, huh?”

BB just shook his head as he helped Red climb up onto the step. “I’LL EXPLAIN MORE LATER.”

“Sure, sure.”

It said something about the both of them that Cinnamon knew his bro would tell him soon enough, knew it well enough that he came here without any other question except ‘how soon do you want me here?’

Red swayed a bit as he took the step up, shifting to slowly shuffle onto the middle seat. BB flushed, looking away. When Red had stepped up, the shirt had slid up, and it was…quite obvious they needed clothes for him. An entire wardrobe, honestly. BB cleared his throat, hesitating as he laid his hand on the cuffs. “CAN WE TAKE THESE OFF NOW?”

Red sucked in a breath, staring at it for a moment before nodding slowly. “P-Please,” he murmured. BB nodded, sitting down in the seat next to Red as Cinnamon started to drive them off. BB unwound the belts slowly, peeling off the cuffs and freeing Red’s arms. They looked chafed and pained, but Red sighed and slumped in his spot. BB gave a small smile.

“THERE. WE’LL GRAB SOMETHING TO EAT SOON.”

Red didn’t respond, his head leaned against the window with his eyes shut as they bumped down the road. Cinnamon looked up into the rearview, making an ‘hm?’ face and BB shook his head. He’d tell him when they stopped, not when Red was just now seeming to rest.

Cinnamon managed to get them to the edge of town, near one of the supercenters, in record time. BB gave him a searching look and he grinned sheepishly as he ducked out of the van. BB shook his head, looking at Red who seemed to be still…asleep. “…RED?”

“Yes?” he mumbled, not opening his eyes.

“THERE SOMETHING IN PARTICULAR YOU WANT TO EAT?”

“No,” he sighed, shaking his head. His hands were clenched on the edge of his shirt over his knees. BB nodded.

“WE’LL GET YOU SOME…BETTER CLOTHES…DO YOU WANT TO GO IN?”

Red didn’t answer. BB figured that was all he would get. With that, he cautioned Red about opening the van door for anyone, made sure the AC was on, and hopped out to head after his brother.

——————————————————

The father out they got, the more Red seemed to just…sleep? Deeper? BB wasn’t sure how to explain it. They managed to get him to nibble a sandwich, but he just fell back asleep, his head bumping against the window every so often. BB frowned, keeping an eye on him and the outside, directing Cinnamon the way into the woods. The safe house was a cabin, halfway between their city and the next. At least it had electricity, which he was thankful for.

They parked, Cinnamon grabbing up the bags of clothes (they had to estimate his size) while BB gently shook Red’s shoulder. “RED. RED, WE’RE HERE.”

Red’s head rolled onto BB’s shoulder, his eyes blankly staring up at BB. BB frowned. “RED?”

If it wasn’t for his soft breathing, BB would have thought…no, he wasn’t though. BB moved his hand and he saw Red’s eyes dart to it, following it back up to BB’s face.

He was awake.

He just couldn’t move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you pull a puppet from its strings far enough, I wonder what happens.
> 
> Anyway! See ya'll in the morning!


	3. BB's New Golem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dark Web holds answers. Not ones they want. But answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \o/ 
> 
> Yaaaay! Things are! Looking up! 
> 
> Maybe!

They managed to get Red situated on the couch inside (after Cinnamon had beat out the dust. Gross.), pillows behind him to sit him up with his legs laid out across the couch. BB tucked one of the extra blankets around him, Red’s hands on top so he wasn’t pinned in, and BB had shifted his head so he wouldn’t have a crick in it. Red watched them the entire time, a silent observer, never grimacing or responded beyond a flick of his eye lights.

It was a lot like the human version of a coma, perhaps. Or paralysis of a sort. BB shook his head, tucking the blanket around Red with a sigh. “WE’LL FIX YOU UP, OKAY? WE JUST…HAVE TO FIGURE THIS OUT.” He mumbled.

Red stared at him, but BB imagined that he felt some sort of relief being away from the gang. He sighed, standing up and turning on the TV for Red. He flicked it until he found one that lit Red’s eyes up, a movie about the ocean’s reef it seemed. He set the remote down, heading to the kitchen where Cinnamon was judging the canned foods and their expiry dates. He held up one when BB entered, grimacing. “Dude this is three years old, what the hell?”

“WE’D RATHER SAFE HOUSES _NOT_ BE USED AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE,” BB grouched back as he opened the fridge, looking in with a nod. Nothing rotten at least.

“Eh, I guess that’s fair,” Cinnamon shrugged, tossing the can in his hand for a moment. “So. What’s up?”

BB sighed roughly as he told what he could about the case, about the ‘Golem’ and how they had no idea what that was, while he checked the cabinets for silverware. “OF COURSE, WE HAVE NO IDEA WHERE TO START WITH ALL THIS.”

Cinnamon snorted. “That sounds like some Dark Web shit.”

BB paused, his eye sockets furrowing before he nodded after a moment. “I SUPPOSE. THE DRUG TRAFFICKING, YOU MEAN.”

“Nah the whole…Golem, doll, thing,” Cinnamon tossed the can into the trash, digging into the pantry this time. BB frowned. 

“WHAT?”

“Yeah so like,” Cinnamon began, pulling out more and more expired cans, “Everyone knows it. Kinda. You can ask people to kill other people or like, you can ask them to be kidnapped and jazz.”

BB wrinkled his nose. “AM I GOING TO HAVE TO TAKE YOUR COMPUTER AWAY?”

Cinnamon stuck his tongue out. “Rude. Nah, it’s…okay not exactly public knowledge but like, not a big secret anymore.” He shrugged, stacking a few cans on the table. “They probably either paid someone to get him specifically, or there’s a site out there to get monsters like…that.” He motioned at the living room. 

BB nodded slowly. “SO IF THERE’S A WAY…THEN THERE’S A WAY TO FIX IT.”

Cinnamon winced, shrugging. “I doubt they’d keep that on the web, bro. I can look, if you want.”

BB shot him a look, almost glaring. “NOTHING ILLEGAL, CINNAMON.”

Cinnamon just waved a hand. “It ain’t illegal to look, geeze. I got it.”

BB rolled his eyes, and they finished cleaning out the kitchen together. BB brought Red some water and a little monster candy so it wouldn’t have to be physically eaten. Red stared at him, giving off a soft sigh when BB finished giving him the water. BB frowned. “DON’T WORRY, WE’LL…FIGURE THIS OUT.” He hoped that came out more comforting than he felt it had.

Red eventually seemed to fall asleep, his eye lights shuttering out. BB felt bad they couldn’t get him into a bed, but well, they didn’t want to ah…expose him, considering his state of…undress. Plus while they could carry him, that would be demeaning, in some way or another. So BB just made extra sure the couch was as comfortable as possible and let Red relax and fall asleep.

BB called the chief the next morning, telling him where they were. It seemed that this Fellby had realized what had happened and was yelling up a storm, something about suing them and ruining their lives ‘you know,’ the chief said, ‘all the usual BS they like to yell.’

(How ironic was it for a bull monster to say bullshit…)

BB just agreed, telling him that he was investigating on the sudden paralysis of their witness, and then that was it. Here he was. In a cabin in the woods nearly three…three? Hours away from town, his brother the only one to know he was here. Not that BB had too many nosy friends, but he still had a few he liked to go out to drink a little with or that one coworker who took him to ride some go-karts. (He was very competitive, and it was FUN.)

He was here with someone who couldn’t talk until they found out what the hell was going on. If they could. At all. BB groaned, swiping a gloved hand over his face. Okay, no, no time for all that. Right now, time for making breakfast and then…go from there! Yes, of course!

…of course.

————————————————————————————

It takes two days for Cinnamon to find anything which was actually slow for his brother. He had a weird look on his face as he held a stapled packet after BB opened the door. “Yeah so like. It’s fucking weird, bro.”

BB rolled his eyes, letting Cinnamon in and locking the door behind him as they went to the living room. BB had shifted Red to sit up now, and he was watching another ocean documentary. His eyes flicked to the side, watching Cinnamon as he sat on the armchair. “I FIGURED IT WOULD BE. SO? WHAT IS IT?”

Cinnamon wiggled the papers at him, tossing them to him with ease. “It’s ah, bad. I think?”

————————————————————————————

‘Congrats on your order of a Golem! This is the letter you will receive after said order, but as many of our customers tend to…lose said letters, we’ve decided to print this on our website!

Now, let’s go over a few things!

If your Golem is someone you’ve chosen, then we go through something called ‘re-conditioning’. Spooky, huh? Don’t worry about it! Pretty much, we grind their personality down in order to accept the Strings. They may still fight and argue, or be afraid, but that’s all on you after that. We do not eliminate memories as there is no way to undo it and there are not a lot of customers who like ‘forgetful’ Golems. 

This is only for monsters: If your Golem is one from this site, or a custom order, you’ve made a great choice! We build them up from scratch using a secret method. This way is much cheaper as we don’t have to deal with the mess of rebuilding someone. There are various personality choices, and you’ve chosen: (there are various ‘choices’ listed, the word Example circled).

In fact, we’re so assured of it, that we offer free maintenance up to a year! This includes: retraining, rebonding, healing, clean slate option (in which your custom order’s mind is wiped and thus ‘brand new’), reconditioning, and more!

Your Golem will arrive in a pine-wood box, delivered by one of our men to ensure that it is not lost nor picked up by authorities. You will have to be home, and you alone will have to take in the package.

Just remember, your Golem has no will other than what you provide them. Should you no longer be around, for any reason, their lack of will causes them to become defective until another takes over.

Now, on to the instructions on how to bond with your Golem after you receive them. 

—————————————————————————————

“1. SUMMON THEIR SOUL…” BB scowled at the paper. This was a giant disgusting mess, honestly. This entire thing. But. He had to do this for Red, even if it was the sketchiest thing he’d ever done. Cinnamon had gratefully left, promising to pop back in to check on them. BB sat on the edge of the couch, after laying Red down so he’d be comfortable. BB sighed, staring at Red. “ARE YOU UM, READY?”

Red didn’t respond, but he stared up at BB, as if to agree. BB nodded sharply, and waved his hand above Red’s chest. His soul popped free…and it was so _odd_. He quickly looked at the paper.

“THE GOLEM’S SOULS ARE GOLDEN, TO DIFFERENTIATE THEM, WHAT THE HELL,” he muttered, then shook his head. “WHATEVER, CAN’T CONCENTRATE ON THAT. OKAY. STEP 2. …SUMMON YOUR OWN SOUL, THEN PULL THE…WHAT…” He muttered for a moment. His own soul appeared, floating near Red’s. He swallowed. This was…very intimate, but he really could not focus on that now.

He reached up for Red’s soul, grabbing some little…odd notch at the bottom in the little valley on Red’s soul. He didn’t move, but his eyes flickered, and BB murmured an apology. He pulled it, a long golden line extending away from Red’s soul.

He pushed the end into his own soul.

BB hissed in a mix of pain and something he didn’t understand as his own soul erupted with dark ‘strings’, encasing the golden heart so completely with them that it covered the gold for a moment before both of them disappeared. BB stared at the air, then looked over at Red, then down at the paper.

“UM. YOU CAN. MOVE…WAIT…” He felt his magic stir, and push the ‘command’ down into what the instructions stated as the ‘command line’ to Red.

In an instant Red sat up with a gasp, panting sharply as if he had been holding his breath, curling up with a choked gasp. BB abandoned the packet, wrapping his arms around Red and shushing him. “IT’S OKAY, IT’S OKAY,” he murmured.

Red shook in his arms, slowly relaxing as he panted, his hands clutching at BB’s shirt. “…h-hi,” he mumbled.

BB snorted. “HI. SO. UM. THAT WAS SOMETHING.”

Red let out a wet laugh, leaning back a bit and scrubbing at his face with a sniff. “Mm. Yeah.”

BB scowled, crossing his arms after letting Red go. “SO FELLBY CONTROLLED YOU, IN ESSENCE.”

Red flinched, curling up and curling his arms around his covered legs. “He…was very bored when people obeyed him,” he murmured, his eye sockets drooping as if he was exhausted. “Everyone’s afraid of him, or in awe of him…he liked it…when people feared him. E-Especially if they still had to follow his orders.”

“AH.” BB paused, then patted his shoulder. “WE’LL DROP IT, FOR NOW, OKAY? LET’S FEED YOU UP, BEFORE MY BROTHER COMES AND TRIES TO CONVINCE YOU TO EAT HOT SAUCE.”

Red let out a muffled laugh, and BB stood up slowly. 

He could feel it. The strings. It felt like he was holding his hand out, each individual string tied to him and wrapped around Red like a damn puppet. He…didn’t like it, but a sick part of him could see why someone would enjoy it. He paused for a moment, then sent a small pulse saying he could stand up, and Red immediately scrambled up, his hands up in the same position as when they were bound together, swaying in place next to BB as he watched him with big eyes.

Yeah this was fucked up.

…but…they could do this. The first step was getting Red away from that gang, and they did.

The next step…was getting Red dressed, honestly, BB thought with a blush as he led Red into the kitchen. After lunch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have two awful little thoughts and if you know me kinda, you might can guess what I'm thinking of doing to poor, poor Red.
> 
> I may not though. That's a lot of angst.
> 
> Also, guesses on if Red is a Changed Golem or a Custom Golem :3
> 
> Because I'm not sure which I prefer more >w>


	4. Truth Comes Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Red spills his guts, nearly literally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost thought it was too much but then I watched a person on CSI do about near the same and I was like 'damn, ya'll can't keep a secret to save your soul'

BB makes them both some spaghetti. It’s easy, simple, and not too hard on the stomach. Red devours it as if he hadn’t eaten in days which…really, he hadn’t eaten REAL food. BB felt guilty for that, even getting Red nearly three bowls of it before he couldn’t eat any more.

He chugged a large glass of milk, panting as he plopped the empty glass down, smiling cheerily at BB. “It was good!”

“I NOTICED,” BB chuckled, sighing softly. “FIRST THING’S FIRST. I SUPPOSE WE SHOULD…GET TO WHATEVER IT IS YOU KNOW.”

Red’s eye sockets furrowed, nodding slowly as he shifted in his seat. “A lot, but I don’t know what exactly…matters,” he mumbled, looking down. BB shook his head.

“EVERYTHING WOULD BE FINE. ACTUALLY, JUST A MOMENT,” BB hopped up, nudging a suggestion-not a demand, it felt like a pit in his stomach when he did that-that Red could go sit on the couch. He acted like it was a demand all the same, springing up and rushing to the living room as BB headed upstairs to grab a few things.

He came back with an old style recorder-one that couldn’t be ‘accidentally deleted’ by computers-an electronic one as backup, a notepad, pen, and he paused to grab Red a cookie and bottle of water. Red happily took both of them, albeit his frantic eating had simmered down to slow chewing. He seemed happy all the same. BB cleared his throat, setting everything up. “OKAY, THESE WILL RECORD EVERYTHING WE SAY, AND I’LL TAKE NOTES ON…I SUPPOSE EVERYTHING.”

Red nodded, his eyes flicking from the recorders and back to BB. “So…start…at the beginning?”

BB tilted his head, frowning. “AND YOU’RE ABLE TO TELL…EVERYTHING?”

Red hummed an agreement. “Any rules that he set in motion, any constraints, were wiped clean when you…took over.” He quirked a grin. “It was meant to go hand in hand with a clean slate wipe, so that one couldn’t use a Golem against…well. Them.”

BB snorted, shaking his head. “SHOT THEMSELVES IN THE FOOT WITH THAT ONE. WELL…LET’S BEGIN.”

Red nodded, picking at the top of one of his socks, before he opened his mouth…

————————————————————————————————

The Dark Rise gang infiltrated New York years ago on a day filled with gray clouds and sadness. This was after Red was taken by Fellby.

(”TAKEN?”

“…yes.”)

What had happened was not something Red could even talk about, nor was it something he WANTED to talk about. It ended with him being owned by Fellby, and dragged halfway across the world. (When asked why, Red just shook his head, his jaw tight. He knew, he just quite literally couldn’t say.) Fellby Flamestar arrived in a bang, literally.

His victim was the business mogul that had been found in an alley. There was no reason behind it. He just wanted to send word that someone new was in town. If it wasn’t that man, it would have been another.

The gang was deeply entrenched in what could be considered the Dark Web of the real world. Drugs of all kinds, some of them addicting, all of them fatal in any doses. The members were quick and silent, taking humans in the dead of night. Monsters, well, they were put in debt or were blackmailed into meeting them somewhere, only to disappear overnight.

Monsters were more noticeable, however. There weren’t as many in New York, so when one disappeared, they would have to hunker down for a month or so until the heat died down. They just took humans they knew wouldn’t be missed. The ones who lived on streets or they got to know and used that information against them.

(”SO THEY WERE…MAKING GOLEMS? LIKE YOU.”

“…y…yes.”

“HOW? I DIDN’T EXPECT THEM TO ADVERTISE ONLINE.”

“That’s their um, front man? He watches for orders then sends them to Fellby. If they’re caught, the FBI will find him first and they’ll have time to scatter.”

“…WOW.”

“I was the first…”)

They made a lot of money with the Golems. They weren’t like human trafficking, in a manner, and they weren’t like the Dollmaker that had been arrested some time back. With the first, you ran the risk of having someone actually being able to overpower you and then run off to turn you in. With the other, they were…literally dolls. The only difference between them and the new sex dolls is that those could bleed or whimper, or more depending on what you wanted.

Golems had to do exactly what you wanted, and act the way you demanded. Red feared Fellby, his emotion both real and fabricated. Fellby thrived on ‘having fun’ with someone who was terrified of him, but unable to do more than put up a slight resistance. Of course, when Fellby got bored, he made up new ‘things’ to do with Red.

The time at the warehouse, well, there was a new drug out, that was true. The seller showed how it worked by injecting it right into a Moldybugg’s arm. They quivered in their handcuffs, then shrieked as they melted in place, becoming nothing more than a puddle. Fellby was greatly pleased. When taken in very small amounts, it left one euphoric, and addicted. Too much, and you melted. He could use this to rule the city with fear, or that was the plan.

(”He got a…good deal on it.”

“HUH?”

“Fellby hates paying full price on things. He always finds a loophole or a way to haggle things down.”

“O…KAY?”

“That’s why I was there.”)

Honestly, the police arriving was perfect timing for Red. He was pretty sure Fellby had sold him. Again. The last time he did that, he spent a week with some gang or another before one of the members went turncoat and poisoned the food for their luncheon, dragging Red back without a second thought. Fellby was greatly pleased with it. He got the entire supply from them, after dying, and he got his Golem back, slightly unscathed.

“…anyway. There’s a ledger book in his room. I know where it is, but…” Red shrugged and BB shook his head.

“A WITNESS TESTIMONY CAN GO VERY FAR, RED, IT’S OKAY. WITH THIS WE’LL BE ABLE TO AT LEAST GET HIM TO GO TO COURT.” He paused, putting the recorders on pause as he leaned over, patting Red’s hand. “YOU OKAY?”

“Mm.” Red shrugged, looking down. “Yes. What now?”

BB sighed, straightening up. “NOW I SEND THIS ALL BACK TO THE CHIEF AND WE GO FROM THERE. AND YOU NEED NEW CLOTHES.”

Red flushed, clenching at the edge of his shirt. “I-I’m fine, I promise!”

BB cleared his throat as he gathered up everything. “YOU ARE…MISSING SOME PANTS, AND THUS NOT TOTALLY CLOTHED! …YOU AT LEAST NEED A NEW SHIRT, RIGHT? WHEN’S THE LAST TIME YOU TRADED THAT OUT?”

“Never,” Red’s breath hitched, tugging at the end of it. “This is my outfit. If I’m not naked then this is what I wear.”

Stars above.

BB nodded, sighing. “HERE JUST. JUST WAIT HERE AND I’LL BE BACK, I HAVE TO PUT THINGS TOGETHER FOR CINNAMON TO TAKE BACK FOR ME.”

Red didn’t respond, and BB scurried to the kitchen, placing everything in a steel lockbox for Loki to peruse when he received it.

He gathered up a simple shirt and pair of shorts, returning back to the living room. “PLEASE? I’M SURE IT’LL FEEL BETTER THAN WHAT YOU’RE UM, WEARING.”

Red started to tear up, shaking his head although BB didn’t see his tears. Instead he…well, okay, he forgot himself for a moment. He dealt with criminals and even his own brother, reaching out to grip a shirt or manhandle them around without a thought.

But Red wasn’t either one of those things, and by the time his mind caught up to his body, Red was trying to squirm away from him with wide eyes, wheezing heavily. The shirt in BB’s hand rode up Red’s side when he moved…

There was a bright violet bruise on Red’s ecto, like a starburst, which he didn’t see long before Red slapped his hand and yanked his shirt down, shaking. 

BB’s eyes widened. “R-RED…”

What was going on…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm hmm hmm
> 
> wonder what that is
> 
> like I said: bad bad idea for the plot but like. I'm not sure if I wanna do one of them >> Hmmmmm.
> 
> Anyway! I like the idea of Red from a rival gang...kinda hard to find your brother when he's across the country :3
> 
> also forgive BB, his first instinct to helping is to just grab and manhandle bc he has no shame but also he's kinda on auto pilot when it happens XD


	5. Finding Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things really are not in Red's favor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Poor Red. I love him so UwU

BB was definitely lost on what to do now. After the…everything, he finally managed to persuade Red out of the degrading shirt he was wearing (yeah, he finally got the joke of it now) and into some better clothes. Which he also managed to convince him to go change IN THE BATHROOM and NOT in front of BB.

This new thing…well it…it made no sense! Crime bosses didn’t exactly scream ‘parent material’ nor did they appear the type to want a child around. 

There had to be something up Fellby’s sleeve if he had let Red stay pregnant. Because that’s what he did. BB couldn’t fool himself that Red could keep it secret, especially considering his remarks on being naked if he didn’t have his ‘outfit’. He couldn’t convince himself that Fellby had a change of heart, either.

But stars above he’d already sent Red into hysterics being the brash brute he was, no need to force him into talking even MORE.

BB sighed, lifting up the coffee cup he had in front of him. He added some whiskey to it earlier. He needed it, dammit. This whole thing was trying his nerves.

He heard something behind him and turned. Red was in the simple t-shirt, a soft yellow, and some basketball shorts. He didn’t take the stockings off, but BB wasn’t going to make him either. “…HOW DO YOU FEEL?”

Red shrugged, looking down as he tugged at the edge of the shirt. For some reason, BB expected it to ride up, or to balloon out, but he wasn’t that far along…”Okay.”

BB nodded sharply, then slid a cup of coffee near Red. He took a seat, nervously taking the cup in his shaking hands. BB sighed. “I MEAN. DO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT?”

“N-Not, um, not really,” Red mumbled, slowly sipping the cup of warm coffee. His eyes shut as he savored it. BB couldn’t blame him. Coffee was delicious.

BB nodded again, tapping a finger on the table for a moment. “WELL. THE TRIAL WON’T BE FOR A LITTLE WHILE. THEY MAY HAVE YOU DO A RECORDED STATEMENT BEFOREHAND. IS THERE…ANYTHING YOU WANT?”

Red paused, staring at BB with wide eyes. Right. Golem. He couldn’t really do anything he wanted, not really. BB sighed. “OKAY HOW ABOUT…DID YOU HAVE A FAMILY BEFORE THIS?”

Red hesitated before nodding slowly, gripping his cup tightly. “Yes. Um. A-An older brother.” Oh. Well. That was…that was good, Red had someone out there that missed him. BB hummed.

“WE CAN…TRY TO FIND HIM BUT IT WILL HAVE TO BE AFTER THE TRIAL.” Red’s shoulders slumped. It was obvious that wasn’t what he wanted to hear, but he nodded all the same with a sigh. BB frowned. “HOW DID THIS ALL HAPPEN TO YOU?”

Red clicked his teeth, shaking his head. “I um, I can’t answer. That. Not in that way.”

Right, right. “OKAY…UM…NO, IT’S BEEN A LONG DAY, HERE.” BB got up, grabbing some slices of cake from the fridge Cinnamon had brought and gave them both a piece. Red looked at it with wide eyes before digging in with a happy moan, smiling as he ate. BB chuckled, taking a few bites himself. Once they were done he put the plates away, and managed to convince Red to go and relax on the couch while he gathered up the items for the Chief.

When he passed by the living room, Red had stretched out on the couch, deep asleep. His face looked relaxed, and he seemed peaceful at least.

BB left him after tucking a soft blanket around him, leaving Red to sigh and nuzzle into the pillow he rested on.

————————————————————————

“This isn’t good,” Loki rumbled over the video chat, even as he continued to ruffle through sheets of paper. BB grimaced.

“NO, BUT A RAPE CHARGE COULD DEFINITELY ADD MORE ON HIM.”

“Not if they argue consensual, especially if Red never tried to leave.”

BB scoffed, shaking his head. “NOTHING ABOUT THIS WAS CONSENSUAL, ESPECIALLY THIS GOLEM THING. LOVE TO SEE THEM ARGUE THAT.”

Loki merely shrugged, sighing through his nose. “They’ll fight for custody while this case drags out, you know that.”

“WHAT?! THAT’S LUDICROUS! HE’S A FELON HE’S-”

“Also a father,” Loki scowled through the screen at BB. “Unless there’s solid proof that he would be a threat to the child-which there is none yet-then there’s nothing anyone can do to stop them from arguing for it.”

BB winced. Right. That’s true. “YOU KNOW THEY’LL USE THIS TO STOP HIM FROM TESTIFYING.”

Loki snorted. “They’ll try, and we’ll get them for witness tampering so long as they leave proof lying around.” Loki shook his head. “No the first thing is to establish paternity. They can say all they please the baby is the fire elemental’s, but they’ll have to wait until it has a body to be accurate. Or is born, depending.”

BB grunted. “ECTOBODIES ARE SEE THROUGH, BUT RIGHT, THERE’S NO TELLING WHICH WAY IT’LL GO.” He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. “THIS IS JUST GREAT. HOW IS THE TRIAL GOING ANYWAY?”

“Slow, as usual, however they really can’t argue his innocence considering he was caught red-handed.” He sighed. “But they sure can make things hard on us.” Loki paused in his signing, looking back up through the screen. “You said he has a brother?”

BB looked confused. “YES, THAT’S WHAT HE SAID.”

“Hmm. If he was listed as a missing person, then we can tack a kidnapping charge on as well.” Loki nodded slowly. “Everything else can be argued circumstantial until the cows come home-” BB held in a laugh but it was very, very hard- “but it would be hard to twist him having someone labeled missing with him without notifying anyone.”

“WHAT IF THEY PULL THE WHOLE ‘HE’S A GROWN ADULT’ THING?”

Loki scoffed. “Oh they can try, but if he’s been gone for very long, then he would end up in the FBI list, and anyone withholding any information about him would be very hard-pressed in trying to make someone believe he was gone on his own free will.” He shifted a few papers around, nodding. “See if you can’t get his hometown from him, we’ll start a search in the database, proceed from there.”

“ROGER THAT.”

——————————————————————————

_”My brother doesn’t like it when you talk to me.”_

_The purple flame man laughed from where he leaned against the edge of the doorway, staring at the skeleton on the couch with homework in his lap. “Aww, you ain’t gonna rat me out, are ya? I thought ya were cool.”_

_The skeleton flushed, huffing as he looked down at his homework. “I’ve got anatomy homework to do.”_

_The flame snorted, pushing off the wall and taking a few steps closer, leaning down a bit with a large Jack -o-Lantern grin. “I can teach ya more about anatomy than any ol’ stuffy book-”_

_“FELLBY.”_

_Both monsters’ heads shot up, the fire looking frustrated while the skeleton blushed brightly, holding his book up between them. The taller skeleton in the doorway scowled, jerking his head to the side. “LEAVE HIM ALONE.”_

_“Yeah yeah, ya protective bastard,” he grumbled, winking at the other as he sauntered through the doorway with a whistle. The taller let out a huff, looking at the shorter on the couch._

_“…RED, YOU SHOULD GO TO YOUR ROOM, IT’S QUIETER THERE.”_

_That was code for ‘get away and stay there’ and Red silently agreed, quickly gathering his things up. He had to finish his homework and do some studying, after all…_

_Next year he would finally get to go college touring! He was excited and he knew his brother was proud, even if he seemed brusque to others. Red knew how he really was._

_He rushed up the stairs and-_

“RED.”

Red sucked in a breath, stirring on the couch as he blinked. His face felt sticky and wet, and he swiped a hand through the tears, drying them quickly. “H-Huh?”

BB stared at him in concern, then shrugged one shoulder towards the kitchen. “IT’S TIME TO EAT.”

“…okay.”

He waited until BB left the room to sit up, the dream already slipping from his mind. Not really a dream. A memory. But it hurt so much less when he considered his past life a dream. He cupped a hand over his belly with a soft hiccup, shaking his head as he stood up, tucking the blanket onto the couch.

No, it was best to lock it all away. It hurt to have hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Red was about 17-18 when he went missing. How old is he now? It's been a while. A long while. Enough that he's definitely on a watchlist in case someone ever finds him.
> 
> (Also look. I really want the skelebros from Japan for some reason okay)
> 
> aaanywaaaaay
> 
> Poor Red. This was gonna be darker but I couldn't do that to my baby UwU


	6. Red Is A Mystery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baby check ups are important!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Baby! Anya stars again!

The chief had sent over a doctor in order to check Red over, along with his baby. Doctor Anya was very kind, if a little too enthusiastic, but Red seemed to ease up around her. She was an orange jelly monster, and Red squirmed at the touches on his belly. She was very kind, gently praising how cute his baby looked despite it just being a small mass of magic for now. Red giggled, ducking to hide his face as she rubbed a thumb over the small spark of purple magic. “Yes, growing very well, perhaps nearly two months along now!”

BB nodded from where he stood near the doorway. “THAT’S GOOD. THEY’RE HEALTHY THEN?”

“Very much so,” the doctor chirped, smiling at Red before letting him go to stand up. “Both of them! I’d like it if you could drink a little more milk though, Red, but other than that I see no issues!”

Red flushed, nodding quickly as he cupped his hand over belly. “O-Okay,” he mumbled, shooting a look at BB before hugging his arm around himself. BB gave a sharp nod.

“I’LL MAKE SURE OF IT. THANK YOU, DOCTOR.”

Anya waved at them both with a smile and she left just as quickly as she had come, and BB instantly appeared next to Red with a sandwich, chips and a glass of milk. “HUNGRY?”

Red flushed, nodding slowly as he took it, balancing the plate on his lap. “Th-thank you…”

BB nodded, giving him a soft smile. “YOU’RE WELCOME. WE’RE…TRYING TO FIND YOUR BROTHER, IT’S JUST HARD TO GET IN CONTACT WITH THE JAPANESE OFFICIALS SOMETIMES.” Red shoulders rolled up to his ears, frowning.

“Oh. …I dunno, what if um, it’s a bad idea?”

BB frowned. “WHAT? …FINDING HIM? WHY?”

“…what if he’s mad at me?” Red whispered, picking at the sandwich lightly. BB sighed, shaking his head.

“HE MIGHT BE, A LITTLE. IF MY BROTHER HAD DISAPPEARED AND I DIDN’T KNOW WHERE HE WENT, YES I’D BE IRRITATED WITH HIM FOR A WHILE.” BB paused, clicking his tongue. “BUT I’D BE VERY WORRIED, AND I’D DO ALL I COULD TO FIND HIM.”

Red didn’t respond, just picking at his food before taking a small bite. BB let it go. He knew Red’s brother would be beyond thrilled to find him, but there was always a fear that someone you loved would be mad at you for something beyond your control. Instead, he gently rubbed Red’s shoulder, letting go to turn on the TV for Red. “I HAVE TO CALL THE CHIEF, BUT IF YOU NEED ME…”

Red nodded, but didn’t look at him. BB sighed, but left him be as he headed to the kitchen to make his call.

———————————

Seeing the young face of the Golem in the living room was…startling. 

Red wasn’t on the Missing Database. He was in the Children’s Missing database. At the time he went missing, or rather, was abducted, he was still considered underage despite his birthday being the next day. The Red BB saw had a fearful look to him, his mouth jutted into a worried frown constantly with a golden tooth. He had a crack that ran up one eye socket, but it was very thin. 

He was nothing like this photo.

In this photo it was clear it had been cropped from another as a long arm was around this Red’s shoulders. This Red had a softer look to him, a bright grin with no golden tooth. No crack to his eye socket, his eye lights bright and dancing and bigger than they were now. Instead of the…’outfit’, Red had on a private school uniform with little black shoes and his hand came up to grab at the one around his shoulders. 

It was cute. It was adorable. It was the type of picture one would show to embarrass their kid to their new datefriend. ‘Look at them,’ they would say. ‘How cute in their little uniform!’

But instead this photo held a sense of sadness as under it, in bright red letters, read ‘MISSING’.

Red Fell  
Age: 17, 18 on February 14th.  
Height: 4’9”  
Weight: xx lbs  
Scars/birthmarks: small scar on kneecap from childhood incident  
Magic: red, able to use gravity magic at a beginner level

That stopped BB for a moment. Was that really all? Because…he could feel something through the ‘strings’. Something large and unfurling under Red’s bones, like a magic that had been clamped down on. Then again, he wouldn’t be spilling all the beans either if he thought his brother was going to be hurt for it.

‘Red Fell was last seen heading home after a club activity at school. His robotics teammates stated that he had a see-through umbrella as it was raining, and had worried about mud puddles as he was meant to go to a lunch with his brother. CCTV shows him walking down a road about halfway to his home when a car pulls up next to him. The skeleton appears to be nervous but agrees to something, folding up his umbrella and ducking into the car which then proceeded to speed off in the opposite direction.

‘There has only been one sighting of Red since, in California. A couple hiking claimed to have seen him in someone’s red truck. They were unaware of who he was, but due to his short stature, assumed he was a child. Concerned, they stopped to ask him if he was alright due to the truck running but no one else around. He would not answer and merely stared at them until a group of people came from the edge of the woods, asking what they wanted. The couple, concerned for their own safety, quickly raced away while calling the police, but the group and the truck were gone by the time officials arrived.’

Other than that, and the reward for finding him along with the phone number to call, the only other update was his age each year. It was sad, as all missing persons posters were. 

But hopefully this one would have a good ending. BB cleared his throat. “HAVE WE GOTTEN HOLD OF THEM THEN?”

“Not yet,” Loki replied. “The consulate has received the report, however I’ve received no other word just yet. I’m assuming they’re trying to track his brother down, or looking to see if it is a horrible prank.”

BB grunted, nodding. “I SEE. FELLBY, HE’S NOT FROM JAPAN IS HE? ARE WE GOING TO HAVE TO EXTRADITE HIM?”

Loki hummed. “Perhaps. He’s broken laws over there, especially with the kidnapping. I’m not sure how all of this will happen. And nothing to speak of what the brother’s like. He might be in some position of power and would like to…talk to Fellby.”

Talk, right. Or make ‘disappear’. Honestly? BB couldn’t fault him. He’d do the same. “RIGHT. LOT OF LEGAL ISSUES OUT OF THIS ONE.” BB sighed. “WHEN DO THEY HAVE THE TRIAL SET?”

“Next week, it’s bound to be drawn out though. I’d bring a puzzle,” Loki grumbled. “Red needs a video testimony, and I’ll try and argue against a video chat. I don’t think he could live through that.”

“ME EITHER.” BB scrubbed at his cheek, nodding. “OKAY THEN. IF THE BROTHER IS FOUND, ALERT US, I THINK IT WOULD MAKE RED HAPPY AT LEAST.”

Loki nodded, and they cut the signal, leaving BB staring at the soft young Red on the missing poster, looking for the world not aware of what his future held.

———————————————

_click click click_

_knock knock_

“COME IN.”

_creak, shut, click_

“Sir, the American Consulate has been in touch. They have found the little miko.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> =)
> 
> I learned a lot about Yakuza in about thirty minutes lmao


	7. It's Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Red has tricks up his sleeve, and secrets. Only one legitimately frightens BB.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor BB U_U 
> 
> how tf you gonna romance a skeleton when his brother is you know...this?!

The first time it happened, BB thought nothing of it. He was in the kitchen, scrubbing at a bowl after they had finished eating, Red at the table and flipping through a magazine almost in disinterest. BB hummed along to the radio on the windowsill, bobbing his head back and forth. “I WONDER WHAT MY BROTHER IS UP TO,” he muttered.

“Eating Cheetos and playing Mario Kart while thinking of calling you.”

BB let out a sharp laugh, tilting his head back to look at Red who was appearing to read through an article about a giraffe. “THAT’S VERY SPOT ON OF WHAT HE MIGHT BE DOING, YES.” Not like it was hard to guess on his brother, honestly. Red peeked up, giving a soft smile before looking back at the giraffe. A smaller one was near it, an ad for a zoo nearby with their new addition. How cute.

It wasn’t too much longer that Cinnamon did call him, with the faint noises of Mario Kart blaring in the background as he asked how they were.

The second time was so much more serious.

He was on a video call with Loki, they were talking about a missing person who they were afraid had been murdered and left somewhere they just hadn’t found. Red had passed by, but stopped at the doorway with a bottle of apple juice, a light baggy shirt on as he swayed in place with a yawn. “I can find ‘em.”

BB looked over as he and Loki frowned. “HOW’S THAT?”

Red blinked almost sleepily at him. “You just have to ask.”

BB looked at Loki who snorted. “Even with this ‘Golem’ nonsense I highly doubt it gave you the power of…whatever it’s called when you can see someone in your mind,” he rolled his hoof in the air. Red shook his head.

“Isn’t a Golem thing…you have to be specific.” He shuffled to a stool, plunking his arms on the table as he looked over at BB. BB shrugged at Loki, then looked at Red.

“OKAY…WHERE ARE THEY?”

“No, not specific enough.”

BB sighed, shaking his head. “OKAY, WHERE IS JULIAN PORTIA AT?”

Red’s head bobbed back and forth for a moment, his eye sockets shutting a bit. “In a freezer, holding on, 7th and Broadway, his attacker is playing Dance Dance Revolution in the living room of apartment 204, and will go down soon to ensure his death if you aren’t fast.”

…that…was…well. Loki blinked and BB nodded slowly. “O…KAY. WE’LL. WELL. WE’LL SEND SOMEONE OUT, AT LEAST?”

“Y-Yes, that’s. Yes.” Even Loki was at a loss for words.

BB didn’t know what to believe when it was reported back just as Red had said. The two patrol officers had interrupted the man during his game in apartment 204, and they had found Julian Portia clinging to life. The cut on his neck had frozen over, almost like a scab, keeping him from bleeding out. 

Red was on the couch, doodling on a small empty page of a book when BB found out the news, and he kept peeking over at Red very curiously. What was this? Part of the Golem procedure? No, no, Red had said it wasn’t and BB trusted him enough to believe it…

He asked him over lunch, a nice dish of creamy alfredo noodles and broccoli, what exactly happened. Red hummed happily, chomping on a large stalk as he swung his legs. “I dunno. It’s a gift, in my family.”

BB’s eye sockets furrowed. “A GIFT, YOU SAY.”

Red nodded. “Mm.” He slurped up a noodle, rubbing his belly lightly. “It’s…hard to explain? People assume we’re making it up or that it’s just a legend. But, some people in our family, they can see events.”

“EVENTS.”

“Events. Anything. Something from the past. Something now. In the future.” Red shrugged. BB frowned.

“BUT WHAT ABOUT-”

“Only,” Red interrupted him. “If I’m asked about them. I can’t…ask myself anything. It’s like a door only others can open.” Red flinched, rubbing a hand over his cheek. “But I try not to…use it as much.”

“WHY?” It took a moment to dawn on BB, and he grimaced. “FELLBY KNEW.”

“Mmhmm.” Red sighed, poking at the noodles on his plate. “He found out, accidentally. It’s a secret, for that very reason.”

“BECAUSE THERE’S ALWAYS SOMEONE WHO ABUSES IT.”

Red nodded and they fell into a light silence as Red ate, BB thinking to himself for a moment as he tapped a finger on the table. “YOUR BROTHER KNOWS.”

“Yeah, he’s in charge of me, so,” Red shrugged. BB nodded again.

“I SEE. NO ONE ELSE KNOWS?” Red shook his head quickly.

“No. We keep it a secret because…” He shrugged helplessly and BB grunted.

“OBVIOUS REASONS, YES. WELL, HOPEFULLY YOUR BROTHER GETS IN CONTACT SOON, THEN THE TRIAL,” BB muttered. Red nodded, scraping his fork across the plate idly.

“I’m still scared he’s gonna be mad at me.”

BB sighed, leaning over and patting Red’s shoulder, squeezing lightly. “HE’S MORE THAN LIKELY WORRIED. WHY NOT…SEE IF YOU CAN SEE HIM…?” Red shook his head.

“I get a headache lately if I try too often.”

“I UNDERSTAND.” He didn’t, really, but honestly the brother would be over here soon, no need to put Red in any stress. “FINISH EATING, PERHAPS WE COULD GO OUT AND WALK A LITTLE, GET OUT OF THIS BORING HOME.”

Red cracked a grin, digging in eagerly as BB chuckled. 

————————————————

It had been approximately 8 days after BB had drove out here with Red when the trial was finally set to start…and the mysterious brother was set to appear. BB had to bring Red into the city, making them both highly nervous, but Loki had set them to a secure site in order to deliver any witness testimony. (Thankfully, they had set it up with some snacks, both to keep the witness from being too nervous and perhaps passing out from not eating, and because Red needed constant fuel with his pregnancy.)

Red didn’t want to watch any of the trial, so BB let him go and lay on a couch as he watched the TV. It led to an inner circuit inside the courtroom. One hand held his head, his other tapping at the arm of the armchair. His phone buzzed, and he pulled it free, squinting at the text.

‘We are in some deep shit.’

BB frowned, texting back as he switched his attention from TV to phone and back. ‘WHAT DO YOU MEAN, CHIEF?’

A picture appeared, a man standing as he stepped free from a helicopter. He wore a very finely pressed pinstripe suit, a red tie ironed to perfection, one arm holding a briefcase, the other adjusting the top of his tie, hand covered in a leather glove. The skeleton’s face was jagged and sharp with a frown, one scar over an eye, red eye lights staring ahead.

The Yakuza head himself, Boss.

Shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Red: every time I tell someone they think it's a lame anime plot  
> BB: WTF IS ANIME


	8. Family Reuinted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The brothers reunite. Boss is...taking things slowly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a little better than I expected but don't worry, he'll have a panic when they're all at home lmao

BB could intimidate anyone. Gang members, the HOA President that one time, Miss Nancy’s poodle…but how the fuck do you intimidate or even pretend to be brave in the face of a very powerful, protective, concerned brother?

Honestly, he’d let the guy go and Fellby himself if it was up to him. But it wasn’t. Yet.

Loki seemed to have the same idea, albeit maybe he was just nervous the way he kept tapping his hoof on the desk. Boss seemed undeterred, his foot tapping a rhythm on the ugly, scratchy carpet, a clock ticking in the background. Oh hey, that was one of their intimidation tactics. Kudos to him.

“AND YOU CANNOT TAKE ME TO MY BROTHER BECAUSE OF…WHY.”

Not a question. BB cleared his throat, shooting Loki a look as if to say ‘you tell him’. Loki just grunted, clearing his throat. “There is…a sensitive issue at matter and we are still liable for keeping him safe-”

Boss’ eyes narrowed. Ouch. Not the thing to say, Chief. “ARE YOU SAYING HE’S IN DANGER FROM ME.” Boss hissed out, a creak of a black glove as one hand tightened into a fist.

BB held up his hands cautiously. “NO, NO NO. THERE’S. SHIT, MIGHT AS WELL COME OUT AND SAY IT.” He huffed. “FIRST AND FOREMOST, HIS…PHYSIOLOGY HAS BEEN MESSED WITH.”

The red beady eyes trailed onto him. “WHAT.”

“IT’S A WHOLE EXPLANATION THAT REALLY WE DON’T HAVE TIME TO DEAL WITH RIGHT NOW.” BB let out a huff. “THE OTHER THING IS…WELL…”

—————————

_‘HE’S PREGNANT’_

As a child, Boss had been introduced to his younger sibling with not much fanfare. Their father held the sleeping infant in a blanket, and gently tilted the baby towards him.

‘This is your brother,’ he murmured, his father’s usual loud and commanding voice quieted when they were together. ‘He is very special, Papyrus. Do you know why?’

Boss had scrunched up his face, tilting forward and pushing up on his toes to peek at the baby. ‘BECAUSE HE’S MY BROTHER?’

A small chuckle, and his father’s hand gently cradled his head. ‘Well. Yes, that’s right. But also, do you recall the legend I told you about?’

The legend. The bedtime tale his father would tell him. The one about their grandmother who knew all the things. All of them. She saved a village from a flood, all because someone asked her the weather. Boss gripped his father’s kimono tightly, eyes wide as he leaned forward. 

‘Your brother has that power.’

Wowee…his little brother!! That’s so neat! ‘HOW DO YOU KNOOOOW?’ he mumbled, pressing a hand up to poke the baby’s cheek. The baby squirmed, face scrunching then smoothing out after gripping Boss’ finger. 

His father smiled at them both. ‘His magic. And, I’m your father. I know all.’

Yeah that made sense. He squirmed close, pressing his face uncomfortably close to the sleeping baby.

‘I’LL PWOTECT YOU, SANSY…’ A little kiss, and he had to leave the baby be…

Man. What a brother he was, huh? Sans-Red now, according to the officers, a nickname he used as a teen-gets kidnapped, trussed up, assaulted… _pregnant_. He really screwed up this whole big brother thing. 

But no. He would make up for. Come hell or high water, he would make up for it by…doing anything Red wanted…provided it be letting Boss smash Fellby’s smug face in…just a little.

The officer, BB, led him down the hall to a door, and Boss hesitantly knocked. He gulped, hearing Red’s voice after all this time…not noticing the officer slip away (a first, for him, usually he was on top of these things.). Boss gripped the doorknob, opening it up…

He. He looked. Well. He looked well. Better than Boss anticipated, at least. He was dressed nice, in a simple pair of shorts and a t-shirt. He expected…so many things, but Red was here, on a small plush chair, stirring some soup with a spoon, smashing crackers into it as he’d always done and never grew out of. He didn’t say anything for a moment, too stunned, and then Red looked up.

He froze, and they just…sat and stared at each other for a moment. Until the soup tumbled from Red’s lap and he vaulted into Boss’ arms, sobbing. Boss wrapped him up close, shushing him and squeezing him as tightly as he dared, his broad hand rubbing circles into Red’s back as he sobbed. “IT’S OKAY, BROTHER,” he mumbled.

“I’M HERE.”

——————————————

“SO WHAT…ARE YOU GOING TO DO?”

Red’s japanese wasn’t so bad even after so long away from their homeland. Boss had settled them on the couch, arm across the back, Red’s legs tossed up on his lap and squirmed up close like they hadn’t spent years apart. He had switched to their native language, as he didn’t want the two officers to spy in on them. Just second nature, really.

Red had gotten another bowl of soup and was blowing on his softly. “I’m not sure…” he mumbled, taking a sip slowly. “When um, when I found out, I hid it from him as best I could.” Red sighed, shaking his head. “But, well. Yeah.”

“YEAH,” Boss muttered darkly. “THEN WHAT HAPPENED?”

Red stirred the soup slowly for a moment. “Um. He said. That. He’d turn the baby into something like…me.”

Right. This Golem thing. Boss growled at the idea of it. Somehow, someway, he’d free Red of it so he would never have to go through any of this again. The cop, BB, the one who was now his…ugh, ‘owner’, was at least respectable. He toed a line though, and Boss had his eye on him. “WHAT A DISGUSTING CREATURE.”

“Yeah,” Red mumbled. “…I told him, I didn’t want that,” he hesitated. “Then um, he said he’d…” Red grimaced. “Well anyway I told him if he did I’d find a way to…” he made a motion and Boss clicked the pieces together quickly.

“AH.”

“Yeah.”

A beat, then, “AND WHAT DID HE SAY?”

Red let out a small shaky breath. “If I listened, and didn’t…fight back, or argue…then he’d, well. Once the baby was born, they would, go to…you,” he mumbled.

Boss felt disgusted Fellby would ever use him as leverage, but he realized it probably happened more times than just this one. He nodded sharply. “IF…IF I HAD RECEIVED THEM, I WOULD HAVE MADE SURE TO HUNT YOU DOWN AS WELL. YOU KNOW THAT.”

“I do,” Red whispered. “I know you would’ve raised ‘em nice.” He smiled up at Boss, patting his shoulder before leaning in close. “Doesn’t matter now. I just want to lay down and sleep for a long time.”

Boss grunted, laying his hand over Red’s shoulder gently. “I KNOW. YOU DESERVE TO.” He huffed. “I’LL TAKE YOU HOME-”

“You can’t.”

Boss’ eyes narrowed. “WHAT.”

Red sighed, shutting his eye sockets for a moment to rest them. “If I get too far from BB, I go into…a kind of coma. Remember?”

“THEN HE’LL JUST HAVE TO COME WITH US IS ALL.” 

Red snickered, nudging him lightly. “That easy, huh?”

Boss grinned, poking Red-gently-back. “OF COURSE! NO ONE CAN SAY NO TO ME!” He puffed up as Red rolled his eyes, leaning in close.

“I’m happy you came.”

“ME TOO, BROTHER.”

—————————————

Boss really, really, really did not want to leave his newly found brother, but unfortunately…his job called him. BB and Loki accompanied him to the courthouse, after assuring Red he would definitely be back, absolutely. (Vaguely, he was keen on seeing the baby, while also at war over the one who gave Red said baby…weird mix of emotions.)

Either way, once out of the car, and inside the courthouse, there were paparazzi and media and all sorts of trouble around. Fellby was cuffed and stood near a bench with an orange jumpsuit on. Really didn’t fit him. He whistled, seeing Boss. “Hey hey hey, you sure ain’t changed, you old goat.”

Boss grunted, keeping his ever rising temper in check. “YOU’RE SCUM AND YOU’LL ALWAYS BE SCUM.”

Fellby snorted, leaning back as he shrugged, his hands open. “That may be so, but damn if I ain’t had a good life. That little brother of yours, he sure can suck some nice dic-”

Fellby doubled over when a gloved hand punch him in the gut. It wasn’t Boss. It was the police officer, who coldly looked on as Fellby fell to the ground, groaning and hissing about police brutality. “OH, I’M SORRY. I COULD’VE SWORN YOU WERE TRYING TO REACH FOR MY GUN THERE. THAT’S PRETTY BAD OF YOU, WOULDN’T YOU SAY, JOHNSON?”

The other officer, a human, shrugged and nodded. “Nothing worse than when they grab for your weapon, sir.”

BB nodded sharply, then nodded at Boss. “WE’D BETTER GO IN THEN, I’D HATE TO SEE WHAT ELSE THIS FOOL TRIES TO PULL OFF.”

His heels clicked as he stalked down the hall, leaving a cursing Fellby curled up in a ball. Okay, the little thing got some respect in Boss’ eyes. More, at least. 

Johnson said nothing when one of Boss’ boots swiftly kicked into Fellby’s cheek. He yelped and Boss couldn’t keep off the giant grin. “SORRY. YOU SHOULD GET UP.”

He gave a jaunty salute as he followed BB. Now for the hardest part…the trial itself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not a matter of whether Fellby is guilty or nah, Boss wants him moved to Japan to evoke his OWN justices. So like, they gotta make it happen
> 
> Also Red just wants to sleep. Let the boy sleep. LET THE SKELETON SLEEP


	9. The Trial, Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Trial Commences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listening to true crime podcasts (Court Junkie aaayyyy) helped me out lol

The trial’s endgame was thus: extraditing Fellby out of the US and into Japan in which Boss and his ‘force’ could thus punish him to their whim.

The struggle was convincing the judge that this was an International Incident, thus making extradition possible. As the main victim in the case was Red, his testimony would be the only key to the whole thing.

Thankfully they managed to swing him being able to video call in, although the defendant side…vehemently protested.

It was thereupon agreed that Fellby would not, for his own sake, stay within the courtroom. Rather, with intense grumbling, he was led away and towards his cell. The defending lawyer did try to argue, but gave in quickly as the prosecutor informed the judge-and the crowd inside-that he would hate to see the defendant attempt witness tampering in front of all of them by intimidating him.

The fight left the man’s sails then.

With that…the trial commenced.

A TV was wheeled in, and BB rolled his eyes as the guards had to finagle with the wires and things. Really, his first grade teacher set up her TV better than these men were doing…

It was plugged in and connected to a feed that couldn’t be intercepted, somehow, through the use of ~technology~. BB wasn’t sure. He was sure Cinnamon could explain it to him, if he asked. For now, they all focused on the circus about to begin.

On the screen Red appeared, and he looked shocked, backing up a little, wrapped up in a blanket as the place was a little cold (and he didn’t want everyone knowing he was pregnant, of course). The prosecutor was up first, a gentleman in a suit and tie. He adjusted said tie, clearing his throat as he stood up. “Can we get your name for the court, please?”

Red’s eyes searched the crowd, locking onto BB for a moment before he focused on the prosecutor. “U-Uh, Sans, er, Red…Fell.”

The man nodded. “Okay, can you tell us how you knew Mister Fellby?”

Red shifted, clutching at the blanket around him. “U-Um. Yeah. Yes, I mean. Um, he and my brother used to go to school together and I just…always go where my brother goes,” he mumbled, looking down then back up quickly, as if not sure he was allowed to look away. 

The man hummed, taking a step as he started to pace. “So, you would say you knew him at least by name when he kidnapped you-”

“Objection,” the defense muttered.

“Overruled,” the judge, Judge Maria, sighed. “We’re here to decide the _if_ of the situation, Mister Sawyer.”

Mister Sawyer nodded. “Right, right. Retracted. So you would say you knew him when you were…17?”

Red frowned, his eye lights going back and forth as if confused. “O-Oh uh, yeah, I knew him.”

Mister Sawyer paused, tapping his fingers together. “And would you say you had ever been…alone with him? At any time?” Red immediately shook his head and the prosecutor nodded. “I see. Has he ever acted interested in you? Seem a little too interested?”

Red hesitated for a moment. “I. I’m not sure, really? Um, he used to ask me things, if I wanted to go with him somewhere.” His nose wrinkled, and for a moment he looked like a kid again and BB had to hold in a chuckle. “But he was weird, and I had club activities to go to.”

“Right, I see. Could you tell us what happened the last day you spent in Japan?”

Red fidgeted with his fingers, frowning. “It was raining…”

_Rain wasn’t forecast for the day, but Red knew it would happen as Boss had asked him about it earlier. He pressed his face against the window, watching his breath ghost over the window for a second as the umbrella dangled from his arm._

_Dang it. Boss had wanted to take him to lunch for ‘something important’, and he really didn’t want to mess his uniform up! He sighed, leaning away from it, smoothing a hand over his uniform slowly. It had long sleeves and a coat, but his black shoes would get horribly messy…what to do…_

_“Hey, Red!”_

_A wing wrapped around his shoulders, a bright shining beak peeking over his head and Red laughed. “Pako, what are you doing?”_

_“It’s raining! Ain’t that the pits?” Pako patted his head with his beak, then moved away, laughing. “Where ya headed? Wanna go together?”_

_Red shook his head. Pako hadn’t finished his after school chores, so he knew this was a way of getting out of them. “Nah. I’m gonna go on ahead. I just hope I don’t hit any mud…”_

_Pako snorted as a pink fluff cloud and a girl with red hair peeked around the corner. The girl piped up, “Oi, Pako, don’t ye leave us here with this mess!”_

_“Yes…unfitting…of a…robotics king,” the cloud tittered, covering her face as Pako waved his wings._

_“H-Hey! Don’t make fun of me!”_

_The door opened as Red laughed, opening his umbrella and shielding himself from the rain. “Bye, I’ll fix up T-80 tomorrow!”_

_They waved, Pako griping about cleaning, not knowing that would be the last time they would see him again._

_Halfway to the restaurant, a car pulled up slowly. Red gripped his umbrella tightly, head ducked down, his soul beating faster. It could be one of the many guards Boss would send for him, or it could be a pervert, or it could be-_

_“Heya.”_

_Urgh. Fellby. Red paused near a vending machine near the entrance to the arcade center, frowning. “…hi.”_

_Fellby’s window was rolled down, and he leaned out of it, some sort of odd contraption shielding him from the rain as well. “Well, now, lookit you. Rainin’ cats and dogs out here.”_

_Red looked confused, looking up then down at Fellby. “It’s just rain.”_

_Fellby snorted. “It’s a saying, kid. Say, where ya headed? No need in getting soaked.”_

_Red gripped his umbrella tighter. Fellby had a point, though. It was getting worse, a downpour almost, and he knew that Boss would make that face that meant he wanted to clean Red up but couldn’t because they were in public. He sighed, shoulders slumping. “I’m…going to Haruka District. Could you take me there?”_

_Fellby’s grin grew wider. “Sure thing, kiddo. Here, get in the back, don’t want ya gettin’ ran over.”_

_Red nodded, folding up his umbrella as he reached for the door handle. He opened it, his eye lights tracing to the right as he heard a noise, stepping in. It was only when his head turned back that he noticed the man in the backseat, but before he could scramble out the man had jerked him in, the door slamming as his hand had jerked it shut._

_No one could hear him scream or fight, especially once they forced him to swallow the pill that sent him in a spiral of darkness._

“And…that was it..” Red mumbled. Mister Sawyer nodded.

“The prosecution rests. We have the CCTV footage of said incident, and his missing posters were printed and taped everywhere in the nation for years.”

And then, it was the defense’s turn, a slimy man who appeared to slink with every step. The Judge called him ‘Mister Jackson’.

“So you said you knew him, yes?”

Red blinked, nodding. “Y-Yes.”

“I understand your brother has been raising you or, at least, helping raise you.” Mister Jackson adjusted a button on his coat. “What he probably doesn’t know is how teenagers are.”

Red tilted his head. “I dunno what you mean.”

“I have a daughter,” he chuckled. “I know their minds. She got in trouble once being in a crowd, started saying that they made her, that they just took her along with and she had no idea what was happening.” He started to pace, getting closer to the TV. “But you see, I’m smarter than her teachers or the people she lied to. She admitted to the truth. And you know what that is?”

Red shrugged.

“The truth is, she wanted to go!” He spread out his hands in mock surprise. “She got excited to go with these other teens and went along, but when she got caught, she said what she thought she could to get out of it. Come now,” he let his arms drop to his sides. “Isn’t that what really happened? Your brother, protective as he is, possibly couldn’t stand the idea of his younger brother in a relationship.” Boss' hand clenched beside him, but other than that, seemed unswayed. “Perhaps it was rebellion, and it got too far for you to keep together, hm? Is that it? Is-”

“Are you saying I’m lying?” Red interrupted, but he seemed calm as he frowned at the defense lawyer.

Mister Jackson cleared his throat. “Perhaps hiding the truth, yes, but if that’s so, then there was no law broken in Japan. You went willingly with him, did you not? You knew him, and-”

“But I had a relationship.”

This made the man’s jaw hang a moment, as it did BB’s for a second. “With…?”

Red shook his head. “Pako and I were dating, kinda. He took me to the video arcade twice, and we had ice cream floats at the tea shop with my brother as a…host? That’s the word? Escort?”

Mister Jackson looked at a loss, looking at the Judge who shook her head. “Perhaps you mean chaperone?” Red nodded quickly.

“Yes, that. Siluka, a girl in Class 1-2, had gotten interested in him, so we were going to ask Pako who he wanted to take to the upcoming dance.” He shrugged. “I guess he had to go with her.”

Mister Jackson cleared his throat, trying to recover from his loss in court. “Y-You don’t seem torn up about it.”

Red made a face. “That’s been several years…we were teenagers, after all. I dated Krin before Pako, and Rin before that and,” Red started to count off his fingers but the judge shook her head.

“Enough, Mister Jackson. Diving into the dating scene of a teenager is not what we’re here for.”

The lawyer nodded, grimacing. “Right. Well, who’s to say you weren’t dating Mister Fellby and just packed up, to get away from your brother’s thumb? Hm?”

Red frowned. “Because he’s an adult? And was, at the time…?”

Jackson scoffed. “That hasn’t stopped people in the past. Well? What can you stay to convince us you didn’t willingly run away?”

Red hesitated, looking from him to BB, then to Boss, then back again as he tried to think. “I…I don’t…know…” he mumbled, slumping into his blanket, frustrated tears popping up as the prosecutor stood up.

“Objection, badgering.”

“I am not,” Jackson huffed.

“Bringing a witness-a victim, at that-to tears over his dating profile is badgering to me,” the lawyer scowled. Judge Maria nodded.

“Agreed, find another way to ask your question, Mister Jackson, or I’ll be forced to have you stop.”

The defense nodded, sighing. “Very well. Is there some way you can show that you didn’t run off with him, then, Mister Fell?” he mocked slightly. “Or that you left unwillingly?”

Red ducked his head, trying to hide that he was wiping his eyes before bouncing back into view, shrugging. “Er. Oh. Wait,” he sniffed, rubbing a sleeve across his face. “Um, the school had a restraining order on him ‘cause of me. Would that be proof…?” he mumbled, looking at the judge who smiled at him.

“That’s enough for today. Someone get the restraining order, and I’ll make the decision from there. Court dismissed.”

_Bang_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the bang is the gavel bc I like how it sounds
> 
> I am literally winging this but also as I wrote, I wrote 'Mister Jackassing' so you can see I dislike him lmao
> 
> idk if any of this happens in a real court but like
> 
> it gonna pfft
> 
> next up: will the evidence of a restraining order be enough to convince the Judge that Japan should be the one to punish Fellby? Will someone have revenge on the lawyer for making Red tear up?  
> *was it just hormones?*
> 
> *yeah probably but like fuck you, Jackson*


	10. The Trial, Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They land in Japan, and people are met!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now this is a semi-anime, so congrats to all who wanted it XD
> 
> If you can guess the characters and the anime/manga they're from, you get! Um. A prize! Of your choosing bc I'm bad with prizes lmao

Red’s private school was called Tanahaka High School. It was a private school meant for those whose scores were in the top five percent. They boasted a prime robotics team, with Red having been Captain one year for said team, and Pako leading them the next year. 

A memorial had been made in Red’s honor, a small shelf detailing his quick advancement in robotics and how they missed him with various classmates signing a yearbook just for him.

Tanahaka High School was amazingly easier to deal with than any other place BB had to so far about this case. They quickly sent a pretty thick packet their way, detailing events that lead up to Red’s kidnapping.

An incident occurred on the playground in which a fourth year had spotted Red and Fellby talking, with Red having a sour look on his face.

Three students ran into Red in Kono District, in which he nervously asked them to accompany him, as he was afraid he was being trailed (it was not proven whether it was Fellby or not).

The biggest mark on the sheet was the restraining order, and the events that led to it.

As Red’s brother was part of the Yakuza-which BB always assumed they kept on the downlow but...guess not-it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for someone to come and pick him up that was not his brother. Red had strict instructions that he was to wait in the office on certain days to wait for the person to appear, and on others, he walked home.

One day, Kizane was busy chatting up the receptionist there, Haruhi. They were flirting and had admitted that they were thinking of going on a date that night. Haruhi confirmed that Kizane was Red’s pick up that day, however, Red had a study group running longer than usual giving them time to chat.

A man walked in, looking nervous, and after asking him what he needed, he mumbled, “I’m here to pick up Red Fell?”

Immediately, and to his acknowledgement not very smoothly, Kizane burst out that HE was there to pick Red up. The man started to sweat, stuttered out a ‘sorry’, and quickly left.

They had not picked up on anything unusual, but admitted there were no names that even matched Red’s full name.

The biggest thing to happen was when a substitute receptionist was on hand, Kanna Yazuki. She stated that around after lunch, Fellby himself-albeit she knew him to be a fire elemental and that was all-came in. He flirted a little before stating that he was there to pick up a friend’s brother. She saw nothing wrong with that, as Red had no one on a ‘do not allow to pick up’ list.

When Red appeared, confused, in the office, he immediately asked what Fellby was doing there. Fellby tried to say that he wanted to spend time with him, grabbing his arm while Red tried to get out of the office. It escalated enough that Kanna Yazuki had to call law enforcement, giving Fellby a trespass while Boss took Red out of school for a week until they managed to get better constraints down.

There were no more attempts barring that, but it was just enough to convince the judge of what they all knew: Red didn’t leave willingly, and was in fact abducted across several countries.

Judge Maria nodded as she read over them slowly, tapping the papers together with finality. “I agree. Mister Fellby knowingly and against Mister Red’s will took him from Japan and into the US. Thus I am authorizing the extradition and the trial will commence in the home country of the victim.”

The defending lawyer tried to speak up but she tapped her gavel down, standing. “Case moved.”

\---------

BB’s leg jostled nervously as he flicked through a ‘Speaking Japanese Dictionary’. The thing seemed to have its definitions mixed up, however, as when he tried to greet Red, all he got was a giggle and a sly smile, and a word he couldn’t understand. Hm. 

Or maybe it was his accent…

Normally, once a case was over, that was it. He’d probably check in on Red time to time, yes, but...with this whole Golem thing, well. He’d been ‘forced’ to accompany him to Japan. Boss wanted to find a way to return Red to normal, which BB wasn’t against. It wasn’t fair to Red, after all.

But Red didn’t seem concerned, BB thought, as he looked over the aisle of the private plane. Red laid out on a cushioned couch, dozing away, his arm over his belly. He seemed at peace now, or as much peace one can get sleeping on a plane.

Cinnamon had asked to go with once BB revealed he had to travel with them, and Boss found him amusing enough to allow it.

In fact, said brother was busy showing off his ‘souped up’ 3DS. He’d done something to it, BB wasn’t sure, but he was able to access the internet in a special way. Boss, to his credit, seemed intrigued by the way his eye ridge raised, a hand on his chin as Cinnamon chattered on about it.

BB shook his head, returning to his book.

How did people learn all this? Duolingo, right?

He dug for his phone, tapping on it with a scowl. He refused to let Red ‘have’ to translate for him. He was self sufficient after all-!

Wait, kawaii means cute?

\----------

Arriving in Japan meant meeting the...Yakuza members, which BB was prepared for. He’d seen some anime on the ride over (thanks, Cinnamon), and he’d heard things, so he was prepared...for…

Not...this.

A tall and Elvis Presley-looking man with a pompadour(?) and a wooden sword, along with several other men with similar hairstyles, had wrapped Red up in a giant pile of hugs. The man was...tall, and had a white jumpsuit with a purple shirt under it, and it seemed they were all crying????

Weird place.

The man sniffled, wiping his face. “It is so great to see you again, Miko!!! When you disappeared, it was a travesty!” The others echoed the word ‘TRAVESTY!’ loudly behind their crying.

Cinnamon shot a look at BB who shrugged, jumping when the man pointed the wooden sword at him. “YOSH!!! WHO ARE YOU!?!?! WE WILL BATTLE FOR-”

“No no!” Red squeaked from the pile, ducking around them with a genuine smile, one hand cupped around his belly. “That’s BB! He’s the officer wh-who helped me!”

“THEN HE IS AMAZING!” The man did some weird motion where he swung the sword then pointed at the sky. “I am! Wooden Sword Ryu! Head of the Guards over little miko!!!”

“...INTERESTING. I AM BB AND THIS IS MY BROTHER, CINNAMON.” BB nudged Cinnamon who gave a lazy wave.

The man flicked his pompadour with the tip of his sword, somehow sparkling sparkles appearing around him. “A brotherly bond...as rare as pure gold...how wOND-” he immediately was struck on the side with another wooden sword??? Maybe??? And was thrown into the crowd of guards, missing Red by inches albeit he didn’t seem concerned as he trotted over to BB to hold his hand.

“They’re a little much um, b-but they’re nice! I promise!”

BB chuckled, nodding as he let Red hold on, watching as a shorter man with a spike of purple hair started to chew out ‘Ryu’ for intimidating their guests, a long staff in hand and fire blooming around him as he hissed and spat.

Boss grunted, placing a suitcase on the ground, one of the group scuttling over to grab it and tote it away. “I NEVER KNOW HOW I GET MYSELF INTO KNOWING THESE PEOPLE.”

BB snorted. “I UNDERSTAND THAT ONE.”

Boss gave a shrill whistle, and in their language started biting out commands, the group immediately sending a salute before taking off. Red hid a giggle, leaning on BB as the man with the spike of purple hair rolled his eyes, sheathing his staff and crossing his arms as he came over. “My name is Tao Ren, I’ll be your guard on the ride.” He bowed lightly to them and Cinnamon snickered.

“What’d ya say to ‘em that had them all sad looking?”

“Told them I’d tell Anna,” he grunted, rolling his golden eyes with a sigh. “Too much stress, bad for baby.” He nodded at Red before turning, hands in his pockets. “Come, to the limo.”

Red frowned, looking over at Boss. “Aren’t you coming…?”

Boss winced, rubbing a hand over the back of his head. “I...HAVE TO DROP OFF THE PRISONER, BUT I’LL BE THERE, I PROMISE.”

“...okay.”

Boss dropped a hand on Red’s head, playfully patting him and making him huff, before turning on his heel to head to the other side of the plane, it seemed. Cinnamon seemed eager to follow Ren, while BB and Red took their time slowly, hands still being held tightly together.

BB cleared his throat. “SO...EXCITING, HM?”

Red cracked a grin, shaking his head. “You don’t know what you’re going to see next.”

Oh, BB didn’t doubt that one bit...but…

He looked down at their hands, then up a little, to Red’s smiling face as he watched Cinnamon badger Ren with questions.

Yeah. He wouldn’t change anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A woman paused in the washing of her dishes, a baby tied in a sling on her back, sleeping peacefully. Her husband cheerily went on with his tale, only stopping once he noticed her faraway gaze. "Anna? Something wrong? Need some help?"
> 
> "No...I just..." she blinked, shaking her head. "I just had a feeling I had to knock some hooligans in their heads, is all."
> 
> "Ah, business as usual," he laughed. A knife whizzed by barely missing him, but he kept up the jovial smile as she fumed over his loftiness.
> 
> Ah. Married life.


	11. Lost Boy, Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Red returns home, finally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boss kinda sees Red as still a kid, so it's kinda jarring when he has to remind himself that hahahahah Red's in his 20's and having a kid, lmao
> 
> Poor Boss tho.
> 
> Hey guess who had more fun looking up Japanese customs :D

Time had stopped in this room. 

BB had went to many like it, all of them had that same dreamy effect to them, like any noise, any disruption, would cause the bubble to burst, to let life back in where it was not.

Rooms where lace and frills lived, make up set out and open to be used whenever the owner arrived home, rooms with skateboards set near the door, clothes tossed over a chair to wear again, rooms with a large bed and an indention fit for a person no longer existing.

Rooms that held cradles.

Those.

Those were the worst, sometimes. They were all bad, but those tugged at his heart strings.

Red’s room had that notion to it.

The moment Red had opened the door, the door that held brilliant pink flowers painted on it and his name etched onto it carefully by a loving hand, BB knew-and yet, didn’t know-what laid behind it.

There was a desk with an open history book and pen markings in a language that BB couldn’t read (yet, he was trying!). A very old desktop whose screen was dark and mirrored them. The keyboard’s letters barely faded, but the spacebar seemed to be stuck, while the mouse’s scroll wheel tilted to the right on a broken wire.

The chair was pushed back, and the carpet had indentions from where it stayed these past years.

It wasn’t as dusty as BB assumed, but at the same time, it was just as clean as he had feared.

(Someone coming in, every day, reliving something they couldn’t stop nor foresee, cleaning ruthlessly in the hopes that that person may arrive on their doorstep…)

A bookcase stood near a door to a closet, the books old and the papers crispy with age. Several of them were the types that BB recalled reading in high school, despite the fact the lettering was unreadable to him, he could spy familiar colorings and bookends. The ones that were favored had bent book covers or were just the slightest peeking out from the others whereas the rest were shoved against the back of the bookcase.

A basket of clothes that Red had decided to wash later, a later that never came. The top shirt was wrinkled, much more so than the rest of the clothes within. Perhaps taken up, to be used in the case for the dogs, just in case they were looking for dust, and the person, angry to be without answers, threw it in and left it be.

Red’s house shoes had been near the front door when they came in, but they were perked and washed and fluffed, waiting for him like a diligent puppy.

(BB had been told to wear some guest ones. Not as fluffy and well-loved, but obviously meant for someone who came in once or twice and not one that lived here.)

The light had buzzed when they turned it on, flickering for a moment before it lit up the room.

Red’s bed was lifted up off the ground a bit, and things he either wanted to hide from his brother or just didn’t have a place for were shoved under it. Board games and a magazine that had slipped open, revealing some anime character in the middle of a grand speech. The bed itself was made, not exactly perfectly, and a blanket was tossed at the end in an obvious rush to get out the door that day.

It looked like whoever cleaned the bed had ensured the blanket would stay in the same position, as best they could, anyway.

The blanket was a deep red, and the pillow was a large white one that would be nice to lay on. Oddly, above the bed, there was a sticky note. Two, actually. One in hiragana, looped and with a funny face winking, and then the other in English.

‘Boss! 

Don’t forget, tournament this weekand!

Luv u!’

And then the funny winking face again. It was slightly shaky handwriting, showing that the person doing it wasn’t used to writing in that way, which must mean he was learning or had learned and was training his skill.

All of these things were stuck in time, waiting for a teenager to get home from the rain to work on his homework that night, to tuck into bed and sleep the night away without the fear and pain that Red went through all these years.

This is what BB saw when they stepped through.

Red looked around, frowning. “It’s…” He paused, opening his mouth, then stopping, looking at BB. “Weird. Right?”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN?”

Red hesitated, reaching up to the bookshelf, his fingertips grazing the edge of the top shelf, where no books laid. “I remember not being able to get this far, so I just. Put them all in the lower ones.” His eyes trailed down slowly, the chair nearby catching his eye. “Everything is so much smaller?”

BB nodded. “YOU GREW, EVEN IF IT DOESN’T FEEL LIKE IT.” He paused for a moment. “YOU’VE ALSO CHANGED, EVERYONE DOES OVER THE YEARS. SUDDENLY SEEING AN OLD ROOM WOULD BE...JARRING FOR ANYONE.”

“Oh.”

Red reached out to the book on the desk, fingertips stroking the edge of the pages lightly, leaving a clean stripe in the dust. If he touched the computer’s screen, he would do the same, BB thought idly.

Instead, Red turned, heading to a small dresser. He hesitated, his hands for a moment coming up taller than the dresser, before he lowered them down in confusion. Then, he pulled the drawer open, searching inside for a moment. He pulled out a velvet pouch, a red...brooch? Tumbling out into Red’s hand. BB squinted. “WHAT’S THAT?”

Red turned, smiling. “It’s an heirloom...it’s um, passed down to the first born, then their kids, and so on.”

The cogs started to turn. “BUT, YOUR BROTHER IS OLDER.”

Red nodded, tilting the brooch so BB could see it. “I know, but he's been adamant that he’s married to his work. So, he handed it off to me.” He shrugged. “I am having the first baby of our family so…”

The brooch was interesting. A rose, heavy in Red’s hand, made of rubies with small emeralds as leaves. Inside the rose was a very tiny turquoise. BB nodded as Red slipped it back into the bag. “...can we go eat? I don’t think I want to stay in here.”

“OF COURSE.”

The room, awaiting its once occupant, was once more shut from the world, only the slightly open drawer indicating anyone had disturbed the calm.

\----

The purple flame elemental spat, chuckling wryly as he swung his head back up with a sadistic grin. “That it? Jus’ gonna punch me around?”

He was tied to a chair, hands behind his back, his white polo shirt missing a few buttons. His cheek was darker now from the punch Boss had laid on him, along with a few other bruises and cuts.

Boss snorted, cracking his knuckles. “NO, HOWEVER, WE NEED INFO OUT OF YOU.” He snapped his fingers at Ryu, who stood behind the flame, and he nodded, something making noises behind Fellby.

Fellby scoffed. “As if I’d tell you fuckers anythin’. Little Cherry’s always gonna be fucked up,” his grin came back, wider than ever. “And my little bun in the oven, heh. Don’t that just irk ya? It does, deep inside, I can tell.”

Boss just raised an eye ridge, sitting in a metal chair unfolded in front of Fellby, crossing one leg over the other. “THERE HAS TO BE A WAY TO UNDO WHAT YOU’VE DONE TO HIM, AND YOU KNOW IT.”

Fellby shrugged, and would’ve held his arms out if he could. “Sorry dude, ain’t no coming back from that. Jus’ gotta live with your bro being a useless piece of shit like he’s always been.”

Boss barely blinked as Ryu took a small dropper and a drop of water landed on Fellby’s hand, making him screech. “You FUCKER, untie me and FIGHT ME PROPER!” he yowled, stomping his feet angrily in pain.

“LET’S TRY AGAIN, WITH LESS INSULTS, HM?” He leaned in, smacking Fellby’s face before grabbing it. “THERE HAS TO BE SOMETHING. TELL ME.”

Fellby scoffed. “Fuck yourself.” And then he spat in Boss’ face.

Boss leaned back, taking a handkerchief one of the group gave him, standing up as he dusted off the pain of the lava trailing down his cheek, turning his back as Fellby started to scream from the blasts of water hitting his head. “DON’T KILL HIM YET, BUT DO AS YOU PREFER. EVENTUALLY WE’LL GET IT OUT OF HIM.”

“Yessir!” They shouted, and Boss climbed the staircase, shutting the door to Fellby’s torture.

He needed a drink.

\------

Coming home to chatter and seeing his brother-older, tired, pregnant-on the couch as if it were another Saturday caused him to stumble for a moment, taking a breath. It wasn’t a hallucination, nor a simple wish.

His brother was finally home.

They’d have to celebrate...later. Tonight was family time...well, along with that little cop and his own brother.

Said officer sat politely in the armchair across from Red, nodding along to whatever tale he was listening to, his brother lazily laying on the other side of the couch. Boss looked down, toeing off his own boots to slip into the house shoes.

Four pairs of shoes now lined the wall, whereas for years just one pair sat, lonely, out of touch.

He shook his head. No time for that. Instead he cleared his throat and Red gasped, scrambling up to hurry over. “Boss! You’re home!”

“YES YES,” he allowed the hug, wrapping his arm around his...now taller brother. Not too tall, mind, he was still short, but he wasn’t so small that one assumed him to be 8 instead of 15. “WHAT WERE YOU ALL DOING?”

Red looked up at him, smiling. “I was telling them of all the things we can do! Um, if we can, like the festivals and oh! The ferris wheel.” He had stars in his eye sockets, like he did the first time he went to the festival.

Boss grinned, playfully patting Red’s head. “LATER. TIME TO EAT FOR NOW.” He nodded at the other two, and BB nodded, swatting Cinnamon’s legs off the coffee table as they were ushered to the dining room.

There were days Boss couldn’t bring himself to cook, and there were days he lost himself in baking, a hobby he kept despite his busy work schedule. He had already made an agreement with his usual cook for the week, so he let her set things up for tonight’s meal.

(Not that he would deny anyone their hard-earned money, and she certainly earned it for putting up with him all these years, but he decided to give her the rest of the week off...certainly not just so he could cook with Red again and playfully scold him for putting too much water in the noodles.

Certainly not.)

Tonight’s meal was simple, since Red had had trouble eating spicy foods or anything that was too… _much_ he said. Yakisoba was his favorite as a child, so that’s what they had.

The table wasn’t quite as long as BB had assumed it would be. It was small and made of dark wood, with cushions lining the sides. Boss took the head, kneeling, with Red slowly settling on a larger pillow meant to help his balance should he have to stand up. BB and Cinnamon traded a look, then shrugged, kneeling on the other side on the cushions.

“Itadakimasu!” the brothers cheerfully stated, both of them breaking the chopsticks and then digging in. BB took his up slowly, pulling them apart and blinking at the loud pop it made.

Well then.

“ITADEK…?

Red giggled. “Ita-daki-masu!”

“AH, YES. THAT.”

Okay he had some things to work on, still. Either way….he could forgive Red’s loud slurping (it probably tasted good since he was home to have it) but Boss? It was loud, and the skeleton didn’t appear to be bothered in the slightest as he fed himself noodle after noodle.

Cinnamon tried to pick up the chopsticks, but shook his head. “Um. May I have a fork instead? I don’t think I can pick up with these…”

“YES OF COURSE.” Boss reached to the side to some cart set out of the way after laying his chopsticks on a little black stand, sliding a napkin folded around some cutlery to him. “PERHAPS I SHOULD HAVE ASKED. I DO NOT NORMALLY HAVE...FOREIGNERS IN MY HOME?”

BB shook his head as Cinnamon gleefully dug in with his fork. “NO NO, IT’S YOUR HOME, IT’S REASONABLE TO ASSUME.”

Boss nodded, setting back into finishing off his own meal. BB tried very hard to lift up the noodles, but they kept plopping back into the bowl. He sighed, then looked over at Red. He had the bowl in hand, tilting it back and sipping from the bowl as if it was the first meal he’d had in years.

His gaze shifted to Boss, as if thinking he would scold Red, but none came. So...he...sipped from the bowl as well.

Oh, that was so much easier.

...also this was the quietest-aside from the slurping-meal he’d ever had. Usually he had breakfast in hand, mumbling around a mouthful of donut or scarfing toast down and yelling at Cinnamon to not forget to lock the door.

Still, it was nice to sit and eat instead of having to hop up and rush off.

Red finished his meal, laying the bowl down and his chopsticks across it, clapping his hands together in an energy BB hadn’t seen from him. “Gochisousama!”

Boss nodded, doing the same, then folding his hands in his lap. “AHEM. I SUPPOSE NOW WE SHOULD TALK ABOUT ROOMING SITUATION.”

Red nodded and BB put his bowl down, hesitating for a moment before putting his hands together. “...GOCHIS...SAMA?”

Boss snorted, a smirk quirking on his face. “YOUR ACCENT IS ATROCIOUS, BUT YOU’RE FORGIVEN.”

“THANKS?”

Boss nodded. “VERY WELL. I HAVE GUEST ROOMS, OF COURSE, I JUST. HAVE TO FIGURE WHAT TO DO WITH RED’S ROOM,” he grumbled, cupping his chin. Red nodded, making a face. 

“I’m a little too big for the bed now…”

“YES...FOR NOW PERHAPS A GUEST ROOM, AND GOING OVER RULES AND THINGS.”

“Rules?” Cinnamon spoke up, having finished his meal as well. Boss quirked an eye ridge, nodding.

“YES, RULES OF MY HOME AND RULES IN GENERAL. NOT TO WORRY, HOWEVER, AS LIFE IS NOT LEARNED IN AN INSTANT, SO TRUE IS THE LEARNING THE ETIQUETTE OF A DIFFERENT COUNTRY.” He nodded. “CHILDREN TAKE YEARS TO LEARN, AFTER ALL.”

Cinnamon blinked. “Never thought of it like that, I guess.”

“RIGHT,” BB said, sighing. “SO. GUEST ROOMS, YES?”

“YES,” Boss muttered, huffing. “I SUPPOSE, FOR NOW, RED, YOU’LL HAVE TO STAY IN ONE UNTIL WE CAN...FIX UP YOUR ROOM.”

Red nodded, averting his eyes as he rubbed his arm. “Okay, no problem.”

Boss nodded. “GOOD, THAT’S THE PLAN THEN. NOW IT’S LATE, YOU TWO TAKE THE BATH FIRST.” He paused, squinting. “ACTUALLY, ALLOW RED TO SHOW YOU TO THE BATH, IT IS NOT LIKE HOW YOU ARE USED TO.”

BB tilted his head. “WHAT? IT’S A BATH, RIGHT?”

“No,” Red piped up. “There’s a lot of difference in bathing here. I’ll show you!”

Boss nodded, standing up easily, and seemed to wait for them to all stand before he nodded again. “VERY GOOD THEN. I SHALL BE IN MY ROOM UNTIL YOU ARE DONE.” He patted Red’s head, smiling, then turned and headed up the stairs.

BB jumped when Red took his hand, tugging him and poking Cinnamon’s arm. “Come on!”

BB tried very very hard not to think about how awkward this was going to be. Was Red getting in with them? Wait was the tub even big enough? 

He really should’ve bought more books on this...or...asked more questions than he had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Red: My favorite sweater!  
> BB: OH IT LOOKS NICE  
> Red: ...I can't fit my head in it...  
> BB: OH.
> 
> Red's having a semi-identity crisis. So is Boss, I think. Gotta rebuild things, as it were.
> 
> Red wants to show all the things off to BB but he's...kind of stuck back in time? His first thought was showing BB his school but...he's not in school anymore, and no one he knew would be there.   
> Red isn't sure what he expected to do when he got back home. Whatever normal was, it was left in the dust when the years passed by.
> 
> (see if BB don't encourage him to go to University tho, boy's got SMARTS, he gotta go LEARN-)


	12. Baths and Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys have a bath. And kinda talk. More like dance around the subject. 
> 
> And then BB has a super fucked up dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://spifalling.tumblr.com/
> 
> They made some sweet, sweet art for this story and I love everything about it UwU

_Ohstarsohstarsohstars_

BB could feel the dark blush on his face increase as he sat on the stool. The bath was REALLY NOT AT ALL like how they did it back at home.

Normally, one of them would grab a shower, then let the other in afterwards. As kids, they would take a bath together, mostly so their father wouldn't have to worry about a toddler sneaking off or a baby crying. But it had been...years since then (except that one time when Cinnamon had been covered in oil and BB had to drag him into the bath).

Red (with his ever contagious grin) had managed to get them inside the bath room. As Red and Boss lived here, of course there was two stool...but BB hadn't known what they were for.

Somehow they were convinced to get naked, and he could hear Cinnamon stifling his snickers (his brother was so juvenile!) as Red happily scrubbed at BB's back.

Also naked, mind you.

Red shuffled to the side, rubbing at his shoulder with the washcloth as BB sighed. “I COULD CLEAN MYSELF, YOU KNOW.” Cinnamon was, definitely, but Red pouted at him.

“It's a tradition!”

“TO CLEAN YOUR GUESTS?” he asked incredulously, even as he let Red pick up his hand and happily scrub away.

Red flushed, the red blush making its way up his cheeks. “...yeeeees?” he gave a nervous grin as BB sighed, shaking his head. Red seemed nervous about something, so he let it go.

He'd put his foot down if hands started wandering though. Not that he assumed Red would do that, of course.

Cinnamon snorted, clapping his hands on his legs and pushing himself up. “Weeelll I better not disturb ya'll any more than I am so...”

“Slip in slowly! The jets should be on,” Red chirped, and Cinnamon gave him a thumbs up, shuffling behind the wooden partition.

BB spaced out for a moment, his eyes on the purple little bobbing soul inside Red's belly. The first time he had seen it, he assumed it was an awful bruise. Now it had softened the more that Red's magic covered it. Now instead of a violent purple, it was...warm. Inviting.

A reminder that it was a child, and not the flame elemental.

Red piped up, shaking BB from his thoughts. “What's wrong?”

“NOTHING, NOTHING.” He cleared his throat, standing up. “I-I THINK I'M CLEAN ENOUGH.”

Red blinked, then smiled, nodding as he chucked the washcloth into a basin, and dragged BB around the wooden partition.

The bath was fairly huge, which...kind of matched Boss' style, yeah. To be fair, he was an extremely lanky skeleton. In fact it was big enough Cinnamon wouldn't even nudge them once they were in. Red took to cuddling up to BB on their side, relaxing, BB jumping a bit as the jets knocked against his spine. Oh, wait, no that felt good...

“Soooo for all guests, huh?” Cinnamon teased, and Red flushed, ducking his head. BB chuckled, nudging him lightly.

“WHAT'S THE MATTER? HM?”

Red huffed, poking BB as he sunk deeper into the bath, blushing. He mumbled something and BB cupped around his ear hole, tilting his head. “WHAT WAS THAT NOW?”

“It'sformarriedcouples,” Red mumbled out, which Cinnamon couldn't hear but made him laugh as BB started blushing as well. Red whined, ducking deeper into the water, up to his shoulders. “Or. Couples. In general. I guess. It's stupid.”

BB sighed, patting his back lightly. “WE'LL TALK ABOUT IT, OKAY?”

Red nodded, seeming put out now, and the bath seemed to have come to a crawl. After a bit, Red ushered them out, tossing them both towels as he wrapped himself up in a soft kimono that doubled as his sleepwear.

Before they knew it they were in the guest room, futons laid out over something plugged up to the wall, which turned out to be warming mats of some sort. Cinnamon clonked out immediately as Red hustled around, flicking off the lights and checking the windows as BB pulled down the blanket. “COME ON THEN.”

Red paused, hesitating. “You still want me to...?”

BB snorted, tilting his head. “YES, YOUR ROOM IS...” he paused. “I'D LIKE IT IF YOU STAYED.”

Red blushed brightly, shuffling over and slowly lowering himself down, plunking his head on the pillow as BB laid back, wearing a simple white sleep robe as well. “SO.”

“So....?” Red cuddled up, latching onto his arm and burying his face into BB's shoulder. BB sighed, cupping a hand over Red's hand.

“IT'S NOT A GOLEM THING, IS IT?”

Red shook his head, curling up closer. “It can't really force me to like someone...but if they ask me to lie, then I would.”

“NO, I WOULDN'T,” he squeezed Red's hand, sighing. “LET'S TAKE IT SLOW THOUGH, OKAY? YOU JUST GOT HOME...AND...”

“I know,” Red shrugged. “I just. I dunno. Never mind.”

BB snorted. “YOU'RE CUTE,” he pecked a kiss to Red's head, making him squeak and hide. 

“BB!”

BB chuckled, tucking the blanket around them, not minding how Red shuffled up closer. Faintly, he could feel the thrum of magic around Red's stomach, warm and a little sluggish the closer to sleep he got. He didn't want Red to feel forced, but also, he did like the other skeleton and had hoped they could, you know, come around to it eventually.

Like kissing under fireworks in the summer...or maybe winning a giant stuffed animal at the Carnival.

Or maybe he was a sappy romantic with grand plans who didn't notice Red had already liked him to begin with.

Right now though, it was late, and it wouldn't hurt to put it off to another day when they were awake and focused and able to talk it out instead of whispering in the dark room.

He felt sleep dragging at the edges of his eye sockets, and eventually, he gave in, his arm pressed lightly against Red, his other holding onto Red's hand as they slept.

_”Oh yeah I know how to break it.”_

_“YOU DO?” He blinked, looking at Red-or who he thought was Red, he couldn't see his face._

_The skeleton nodded. “Yeah yeah, just ask me.”_

_“HOW DO YOU CURE THE GOLEM?”_

_“Haha you smoke it!” The skeleton snickered, then everything around them started to melt into a mix of greens and yellows and reds and he was in an airplane, Red on his knees, resting his head on BB's lap and sleeping softly as the pilot informed them a Kraken had appeared and-_

“BB?”

BB snorted awake in the light as Red opened the sliding door (which he didn't even know was a door), showing the small garden outside. Cinnamon had already gotten up-a surprise, he supposed he was exhausted-and Red was busy adjusting the futon over there. “Wakey wakey! Boss made waffles.”

He bustled by, pausing as he bent over, staring at BB curiously, now wearing a pretty kimono with what BB assumed was koi fish painted on the sleeves and edge where it brushed his ankles. “BB? You okay? You're kinda spaced out.”

BB blinked, and like that the dream was scrubbed, all except for-

“WE DIDN'T ASK YOU.”

“Huh?” Red blinked in confusion, even as BB scrambled up, quickly grabbing Red's hand.

“WE DIDN'T _ASK_ YOU,” he repeated, as if that would make sense.

Red blinked, then nodded slowly. “Okay but I did want waffles.” BB sighed, nodding quickly and hurrying them both out of the room.

“YES YES OF COURSE, LET'S, GO EAT FIRST THEN! DO THE ASKING!”

“Mmkay.” BB must have had an odd dream, he was all energetic this morning!

So long as he kept holding Red's hand, he wouldn't mind it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://spifalling.tumblr.com/post/613301238860218368/eyyy-for-sassyhail-dude-i-love-you-and-your
> 
> Is it bad to say this is my fave? It's got such a look to it, like it'd be the cover and all for the manga haaah. 
> 
> *all the warm and fuzzies*
> 
> original joke is  
> How do you cure a cow?  
> You smoke it!  
> ....it's bad, sorry lmao


	13. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They ask the question.
> 
> They get an answer.
> 
> Maybe not THE answer, but AN answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized that there's some things different between the way BB/Cinnamon were probably raised and how Red was, and how they viewed baby raising.
> 
> Also, do you like what I've done? I like it. :)

“I DON’T KNOW ABOUT THIS.” Boss crossed his arms with a scowl. Red sat on the couch, his legs tucked up under him, looking vaguely amused yet concerned on how the two were ‘at odds’ with one another. Cinnamon stole the armchair, looking unconcerned while BB had his hands on his hips, frowning.

“WHY NOT? IT’S...SEMI-SIMPLE, AND COULD GIVE US THE ANSWER FASTER THAN US INVESTIGATING WHATEVER LEADS WE CAN GET!”

“THAT’S TRUE,” Boss agreed, “HOWEVER, IT’S VERY...PRECISE COMPARED TO OTHER THINGS.”

BB blinked. “WHAT?”

Boss sighed, rolling his hand in the air, muttering something. “A QUESTION, LIKE EH, HOW THE WEATHER, EASY. ASKING THE EXACT NUMBERS TO THE LOTTERY, TAKES ENERGY AND TIME.”

Red nodded, perking up as he settled against the back of the couch. “Oh, he means that the more complex the question, the more energy I use.” He slipped his hand up to the side of his temple. “And the greater a headache I’ll get. Eventually, that fades, but the exhaustion remains for a while.”

Oh. That. Made sense, actually. BB didn’t think of that. Asking what his brother did was monumentally different than asking Red to track down a terrorist camp and see what their leader was up to while giving times and dates.

Right...BB sighed, nodding. “I SEE YOUR POINT. BUT...IF IT HELPS, IT WOULD BE WORTH IT!”

Red looked over at Boss, who still looked uneasy. He mumbled something, rubbing the back of his head. “FINE, FINE. BUT ONCE. THEN NO MORE.”

...what did that mean? BB shook it off, nodding quickly, then pointed at Red in a dramatic fashion. “HOW DO WE FIX YOU?”

A beat, Red blinked at him, eye pips crossing as he looked at BB’s finger. “Not like that.”

“HMMM.. HOW DO WE...MAKE YOU BACK INTO A REGULAR MONSTER?”

That seemed to do it as Red’s eye pips unfocused for a moment, his legs still crossed, hands in his lap as he concentrated.

BB understood what Boss meant by ‘once’, as concentrated red magic slipped from Red’s nose hole, although it appeared he never noticed as his eye pips trembled in place as whatever his power was continued to act.

_”Sever the strings, deep inside, in order, but know the senses follow. They take time to heal, thus making it nigh on difficult to fully be free.”_

BB frowned even as his eye ridges shot up in confusion. That...was an interesting voice Red was projecting. Even Cinnamon sat up in concern, at first, and now dumbfounded. Boss merely nodded, sighing. “WHAT IS THE ORDER?”

Red’s eye pips never moved, in fact, they seemed to get even hazier, his arms locked into position when they were once relaxed. _”It differs. Trial and error.”_

“FUCKING GREAT,” Boss grumbled, but then quickly shook his head, reaching out to touch Red’s shoulder. “STOP IT NOW.”

Red jerked, his eye pips bouncing around the room for a moment before his hand came up shakily to his nose, swiping away the spilling magic. “Eeeww…”

“HERE,” BB shuffled close, having a handkerchief on hand, making Red perk up and letting BB scrub away the magic gently. “WELL...NOT SURE THAT EXPLAINS ANYTHING.”

“IT DOES,” Boss nodded. “FOR NOW, IT WOULD BE TOO MUCH ON RED-AND YOU-TO ATTEMPT ANYTHING.”

BB almost asked what he meant but he could see Red tuning out, the scrunch between his eyes indicating an in-coming migraine, the way one hand shook even as it grabbed BB’s arm out of instinct. He nodded. “OKAY. LATER.”

“LATER,” Boss echoed, then looked over at Cinnamon. “YOU! MY COMPUTER IS DISRESPECTING ME, COME ASSIST.”

Cinnamon snickered, hopping up easily. “ ‘kay. Bye, bro.”

BB snorted, shaking his head as they headed out. Only Boss could say an inanimate object was disrespecting him. He sighed, cupping Red’s chin and tilting his head up. “HOW ARE YOU FEELING?” he mumbled.

Red winced, shutting his eye sockets tightly. “Sick…” he murmured. “Nap.”

“OKAY. I HAVE YOU.”

(Red wasn’t hard to settle back to bed, and BB felt a modicum of regret for having caused Red to go through that. But now, they had answers...if only they could decipher them.)

~~~~~

When BB imagined a ‘shopping date’, he imagined ice cream, walking through a mall, ogling things that you might want but wouldn’t buy (today), and leaving in about an hour.

Shopping seemed an entirely different adventure with Red.

The shops were a mix of modern and what he guessed was traditional. People with small stalls sold little dolls to children or masks or the doors were opened to the public. Then came the mega-malls that stacked high up into the air, only to be immediately neighbored by a quaint little store that sold records with a MonsterMon Machine in the back.

It sent the mind jarring, for a moment, until Red tugged on him eagerly to head down another alley lined with shops.

BB looked behind them, the entourage he had met before were inconspicuously behind them. However, they seemed pretty...on the ball, as it were. You wouldn’t quite think they were meant to be with Red, as Cinnamon was back there with them, and in jovial voices they would introduce him to some new thing like a fried octopus on a stick or a headband that one of them found ‘really really cool!’.

They gave the impression of very enthusiastic tour guides rather than guards.

Smart.

He turned his attention back to Red, still wearing the Koi outfit, and he happily pulled BB into a little store with various things dangling from the ceiling and decorating the shop. “Awww! Look!” Red reached into a large bin, pulling out a small robe meant for an infant, he figured.

BB looked it over, nodding. “IT’S QUITE CUTE, YES.”

Red grinned, his arm still looped with BB’s, folding it a bit curiously. “I guess I should be buying stuff up for them, huh…?”

BB clicked his tongue in thought, reaching out and tapping at an obvious fake fish in an small bowl. It racheted to life, and ‘swam’ around, the cogs making creaking noises. Fascinating. “WELL...I DON’T REALLY KNOW THAT MUCH ABOUT INFANTS. SOME MAKE A NURSERY UP, RIGHT?”

Red tilted his head in thought, still thumbing over the soft cloth. “No, we don’t normally do that. I can’t recall what Father did, but I slept in Boss’ bed until I hit 14.” He looked over, blinking at BB’s confused look. “What?”

“...WASN’T THAT...WEIRD?” 

“Noooo?” Red shook his head. “A lot of kids sleep with their parents, either out of necessity or for bonding. Boss was very sad when I took my own bed and room, but I needed space to do robotics.”

“...RIGHT,” BB nodded slowly. Right. They would certainly have different ideas on child-raising, all couples did of course. Right? Right. Plus Red came from an entirely different country, so there was bound to be some differences there as well.

...speaking of…

“ARE YOU COLD?”

Red shook his head, smiling as he bought the little robe. “No? Why?”

BB gently nudged him with his elbow as they exited the shop, nodding down at him. “IT’S 80F OUT...AND YOU’RE COVERED HEAD TO TOE NEARLY.”

“Yes!”

BB blinked as Red tugged him along to another stall. “...WHY?”

Red gave him the most serious look one could muster. “The baby would catch a cold, BB. And that would be bad.”

“...THE...WHAT?”

...maybe he should ask Boss more questions...or maybe Red was pulling one on him??

He didn’t see Red as the type to pull a small prank, but...it was cute how worried over the baby Red was. He was pretty sure babies didn’t catch colds until they were born.

...right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I read something that said "Mothers would cover their stomachs in a special cloth and wear socks despite the time of year to prevent the baby from catching a cold" and that sounds exactly like something Red would believe and something *I* would have believed.
> 
> ...that can't happen can it?
> 
> Babies like, hiccup and sneeze inside but they don't actually catch a cold, right????
> 
> I need Google...


	14. New Goods, New Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything that Red has bought is finally replacing his old items.
> 
> BB wants to make Red proud! I mean, become a private investigator!
> 
> ...same diff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I once read a book where a girl from China visited somewhere else, I believe? And she wrote a word that to her, meant pig, and she described it as a house looking symbol.
> 
> However, when her mother or stepmother saw it, she started to yell at her as the symbol, instead of intersecting at the top, connected, and that supposedly meant 'farmland' which made the sentence not make sense.
> 
> I mean we can't say anything, English is a dumpster fire, but I just thought that was interesting!

The first thing Red replaced was his bed.

Despite the fact that it was a good bed, it was...it was a bed that he slept in as a teenager. And when he sat on it, dusting off the remnant of small cobwebs or dust mites...he felt off-kilter. He felt like tomorrow, he had to get up for exams, to make sure his robot was doing well that day.

He didn’t feel like an adult expecting a child, and it really unnerved him.

So he replaced it.

Sadly he couldn’t reasonably sleep on a futon right now, or at least, he couldn’t without Boss and BB fussing over him. So he had one folded up in his closet for now, until he could sleep on it, and had his bed set up.

He chose a simple large fluffy bed with dark green blankets and curtains around it in order to block out the sun (plus...it felt a little...romantic to him, in a way, or like he was in another world where all he had to do was lay down and nap for a while in the gentle quiet).

He proceeded to decorate in his new tastes, not that they were much changed from when he was younger, but sadly he held not as much interest in robots nowadays (although, he did feel the itch to start fiddling with a little block of electrodes when he came across his first Robotics And You book), and he had to get some baby books in there to read up on! After all, he still didn’t know too much about babies in general.

The door he left alone, despite a small niggling feeling that it seemed a bit...not him any longer. But his brother and father had made their art upon it, and he loathed to get rid of any memories he could hang onto.

The computer, after Cinnamon dug through and uploaded things Red wanted to keep to the cloud, was scrubbed clean thoroughly before being taken away to ensure no one got a hold of it.

(“PRECAUTIONARY,” Boss assured BB who had looked confused when Ryu carted the large bulky thing out. “EVERYTHING ON IT IS...A DECADE OLD, BUT WE CANNOT ALLOW IT TO FALL INTO OTHER HANDS.”

BB didn’t ask, as Red had looked more...at ease the more they replaced in the room. If it made Red happy, BB wouldn’t dive too deep into it.)

The carpet had been shampooed and scrubbed within an inch of its life, thankfully Red didn’t want to replace that as well. It turned out to be a soft black carpet with a curly white design in the middle. It had been so neglected that all of it was either black or caked with dirt.

The clothes...he stashed away a few but the rest, like ill-fitting jeans or a holey pair of socks, were either tossed to trash or donated depending on how bad off they were.

The ones he kept were either yukatas that could be wrapped loosely around him and his growing belly, or something that Boss had given him like a folded yellow (frayed) obi and star covered socks (too thin to wear, but he carefully placed them away to keep).

He had replaced his houseshoes with something that cushioned his heels as his ankles had started to ache now, plus Boss had carefully chosen them among all others as they were a nice dark purple with an insignia on them. BB had seen it, a few times as he’d flicked through the television on subtitles (Boss, he’d explained, had always had hearing problems and had learned how to read people’s lips through the subtitles on the television. Red just liked being able to read it over when he missed something) and when they had walked through some stalls.

‘Protection’

He had reclaimed his room, thoroughly and with care.

...the notes were gently taken down, and kept pressed between pages in a book of Boss’, as Red did not want them on his wall.

There were two squares left in their wake, which were easily remedied by a quick swipe of a washcloth.

With that, he used a bit of paint to spruce up his name on the door, and like that it was like he’d never left. Well, kind of, at least. It felt that way now. He could finally relax, like letting out a long breath after a hard day.

Finally…

~~

The first thing BB had to figure out was where to go from here.

He couldn’t leave Japan without Red, and he wasn’t about to force him to leave just when he’d gotten back and settled. That’d be beyond cruel. But BB had had a career back in the states-which he supposed he could just speak with the officers here about it-and he felt guilty at making his brother move as well.

“It’s fiiiine,” Cinnamon drawled as he tapped away at his video game, curled up in the armchair. “ ‘s not like I was extremely busy or anything.”

“YES, BUT THAT WAS YOUR HOME TOO, BROTHER.” BB huffed, crossing his arms. “...BUT IF YOU’RE VERY CERTAIN THEN. BUT YOU STILL NEED YOUR OWN PLACE.”

“Eh.” He shrugged, and BB snorted. That was as much as he figured he would get out of the other. It’s not like they had ever separated for very long over the years, perhaps one semester when Cinnamon opted for a dorm in his college. He had a lot of regret as he was...a middleman while his roommate was a very voracious extrovert.

BB had found it a cross between hilariousness as Cinnamon had begrudgingly been dragged out to parties, and worried over his nervous and not-so-sociable brother out and about.

(Didn’t stop him from teasing at a photo of him with streamers draped over his skull with a flat look on his face.)

Boss surprisingly was quite helpful in that he ‘miraculously’ got them citizenship in Japan and two passports within a day. BB remained suspicious about it, especially considering who-and what-Boss was, but at the same time he wasn’t about to kick a hornet’s nest.

BB had decided, while he loved police work, the allure of being a private detective was too great to deny. It turned out he had to study for courses, just as he had during his police academy days, which he could use his knowledge from on said courses. It would take two months, which would put Red firmly in the five months pregnant stage (he thinks, as time has slid by so fast lately). So at least he wouldn’t miss out on the birth should he have to go out and train in the field.

He hopes.

Premature birth could happen, but they were doing all they could to keep Red at ease and far away from anything that could spring up an issue with his baby.

As it was, Red’s room was ‘Red’s room’. BB had slowly managed to convince Red that despite what Fellby made him do, they did not have to stay stuck at the hip together. At first, Red had been hurt, but when he’d squirreled away with a book on pregnancy that Anna-a wife of one of the Yakuza members-had given him, he’d come out bouncy and excited to chat BB’s ear off.

He’d admitted that it was nice, to be alone for once, in the quiet, but he still missed BB.

Speaking of, BB grunted as he raised up his arm from where he was sitting at the desk in one of the spare rooms, Red squirming into his lap without a care. He had on a gentle white yukata today with swirls of orange and purple lining up and down his belly and sleeves. BB had...yet to figure out, fully, how to put it on without making a mess of things so he just threw on a shirt and shorts to work on the classes for the PI course. “HELLO THERE?”

“Hi!” Red chirped, leaning in to peck a kiss to BB’s cheek, peering over his shoulder at the papers on the desk. “That looks hard.”

“MM.” BB took a moment to wrap his arm around Red, still shifting through the book on the other side to find the answer to an essay question. Along with the PI schooling, he was having to study the language on top of it, something that made Boss amused for some reason. “I SUPPOSE I HADN’T THOUGHT OF IT. IT’S QUITE SIMILAR TO ACADEMY, JUST MORE SECRETIVE. WHAT’S UP?”

Red blinked, squeaking as he perked up. “Oh yeah! Did you wanna go out tonight? There’s a new tea place opening up and I thought you’d like it!”

BB chuckled. “SURE SURE, WHY NOT. ...OR IS IT THAT YOU’RE JUST CRAVING TEA?”

“I reaaaallly want some plum tea,” Red pouted, plunking his head on BB’s shoulder playfully. “But it’ll be fun! A date! Yeah?”

A date, huh? Well, Red looked eager and it wasn’t like they had gotten out much, beyond going to buy things for his room. He nodded, nudging Red lightly. “ACCEPTABLE. NOW GO ON, I HAVE MORE TO SCRIBBLE ON AND YOU SHOULD GO AND HAVE A NAP BEFORE THEN. YOU’LL NOD OFF OTHERWISE.”

Red puffed up his cheeks, poking BB’s. “Would not.”

“YOU DO AT HOME!” He playfully nipped at the finger with a snicker. “GO ON, OR ELSE YOUR BROTHER WILL DRAG YOU TO BED.”

“Fiiiine,” Red slipped off his lap, a hand sliding over BB’s shoulder as he did so. “The baby does demand a nap...wake me up in a little while!”

“WILL DO.” BB could see where the yukata couldn’t squish against Red’s skeletal body, where the rounding bump had started to expand. Red hadn’t complained of being off-balance yet, but Boss had set up a full examination within the coming week, and a few other things that were either traditions BB was unaware of that Red had missed out on, or just things that would come up in the future.

He looked soft, and sweet, and cozy. And BB wanted to follow him to the lush bed and just nap the day away in the darkened room with nothing but their breathing between them.

But he had to keep working. Despite Boss’ insistence that it was no bearing on him to have them live in the home, there was always this undercurrent feeling that they should get out and get their own home, live their own lives, so on. But he could also understand that Boss didn’t quite want to see Red walk out that door without coming back again so soon.

So, with all this in mind, he’d at least contribute to the household!

(And make Red proud, of course. Just as much as it was BB’s dream to be in law enforcement, he found a small thrill when Red gushed over him for being so brave. Was that so wrong?)

He flipped to another page, softly groaning as it was about the slight differences in the opening of the symbols and how varying the words can mean if you tilted the angle wrong.

...could he change his mind on the nap?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~first daaaate~
> 
> debating on how the baby will look and gender and name, etc. etc. Not that we don't have time lmao.
> 
> Anyway BB is a workaholic in some fics, a diva in others, my headcanon for him swings wildly. But here, he's always wanted to be an officer (and maybe in that dream he also had someone who looked at him in pride~) so, why stop his dreams? Red of course doesn't mind, as he's trying to walk the field of pregnancy rn, but BB also doesn't want to get knee-deep in something and Red goes into labor haha.
> 
> Also I read a few awesome traditions and I am going to USE THEM  
> But there's also one that, sadly, Red missed due to his age of when he was taken.  
> That won't stop Boss from swinging it his way so Red can partake in it ;)


	15. Ruthless Ender

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh to be a fire man who pisses off someone with spirit powers...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I bet it tasted like charred marshmallows....

“I think about him, sometimes.”

In the decorative office, a clock ticked away. Red was curled up in a large armchair, one arm curled around his belly encased in soft red silk with black borders, his other gently running a thumb over the rose brooch. There was a coffee table between him and the therapist, a soft sheep monster named Miss Shy.

She nodded, her hoof scribbling away. “And, how do you feel about that?”

_”You look like an overpriced whore,” Fellby spat out, his flames now a dull ugly hue of purple instead of the vibrancy it once held. He was still tied to the chair, and he stunk of filth and must. Red wasn’t hurt by his words, not anymore. He was laid out in his brother’s lap, fiddling with the rose brooch clipped to his yukata._

_Around them, their guards started to grumble, shifting, one of them already raising a sword as Red snorted. “Jealousy doesn’t suit you. Nothing suits you, really.”_

_He knew that Fellby meant the thinness of his robe. It was a sleep one, and the brooch was heavy and tugging a bit on the fold. Had he stood, it would perhaps reveal more of himself than he wanted._

“Hm. Okay, I suppose,” he finally answered, switching the brooch to his other hand, digging lightly into the glass petals, tracing around it idly. “Mostly, I’m a little...scared for the baby.”

“Oh?” She sat up, adjusting her glasses on her muzzle. “How so?”

_”So, what, you gonna slap me around too?” He let out a wheezing laugh, and Red watched him pitifully._

_“No. Today’s your final day,” Red hummed, the brooch clicking against his fingers with each movement. “Aren’t you a lucky monster?”_

_Fellby spat a little hardened piece of lava at him. “And you’re the one gonna end me? Ain’t no one here monster enough ta do it? Gotta get offed by a b-”_

_“HONESTLY, MUST WE HEAR HIS VOICE?” Boss grumbled and Red hummed, nodding._

_“I want to.”_

“Well,” Red sighed, cupping his hand over the warm bump of his belly. “They’ll be half flame elemental. I don’t know much about them, nor how they grow. I’ll have to do a lot of studying, I suspect.”

“Ah, there’s a nice doctor I know of,” she dug around in her purse near her legs, pulling out a sheet of paper. “Yes, Doctor Calcifer. He has a little child himself now, but he’s a fire elemental who does part-time pediatric work.” She handed him the flier, and he read over it in interest.

“That’s perfect! Thank you,” he gushed, happily folding it against him with a large grin. “That will be of immense help!”

_”You’ve been an annoyance to me since we’ve met,” Red explained, having moved from Boss’ lap to stand in front of the fire monster. They weren’t exactly eye level, but he was at least closer than if Fellby was standing._

_“Yeah, same to you,” he grumbled and Red laughed, slipping a hand up, cupping Fellby’s cheek as his other cradled the brooch in his hand._

_“How does it feel, to die knowing no one will remember you?” He leaned in, eye sockets wide with unmasked glee. “To know that even your own child won’t know you had existed. To leave this world as if a breath of air from someone’s lips?”_

_A spit of lava on his cheek was expected, and he tutted. “My, you’re so uncouth.” He sighed, taking the handkerchief Ryu handed him, wiping it away with ease. “But don’t worry,” he unfolded his hand, the rose brooch in hand glittering for a moment, before the petals unfurled around his hand._

_“Your death will not be in vain.”_

BB definitely did not fall asleep in the waiting room. He just...shut his eyes! Yes, that was it. He hopped up as Red came closer, smiling. “HOW WAS IT?”

Red blushed as BB seemed to look him over in concern and he giggled, happily stretching his arms out to hug up to the other. “Fantastic! I’ve got someone we can talk to about fire babies!”

“VERY GOOD THEN,” BB wrapped his arm around Red’s waist, chuckling. “WANT TO STOP AT A SWEETS SHOP? I PROMISED CINNAMON I’D GRAB SOME GUMMY BEARS.”

Red gasped, stars in his eye pips as he squeaked. “I want licorice!”

BB made a face, snickering. “EW. VERY WELL THEN, LET US GO.”

_Red sighed as the brooch swirled back together, now just a glittering set of stones that he clipped into place, the dust of the monster shining inside before it was eaten up by the energy swirling inside. He yawned, grumbling when Boss set a hand on his shoulder._

_“OKAY?”_

_“Tired. I missed it,” he hummed, cradling the rose as Boss led him away so the others could clean up the dastardly mess laid behind. “I’d missed my little spirit channeler, yes I did~!” He cooed at the rose. It sparkled happily between his fingers as Boss patted his shoulder._

_“MM. PERHAPS NOW YOU’LL BE ABLE TO USE IT, WITH IT NO LONGER BEING DORMANT.” He let go of Red, clearing his throat. “WELL, ALL FUN AND GAMES ASIDE, BEST GO ON OTHERWISE YOUR BOYFRIEND WILL FUSS.”_

_Red gasped, slipping the rose back onto the fold of his yukata. “You’re right! I promised tea. Bye, brother!” he pecked a kiss to Boss’ cheek, and then one to Ryu’s as he fled, leaving the gang to whine about being left behind and Boss ordering them around again._

“IT’S VERY PRETTY,” BB commented as he chewed on a jelly bean, arm in arm with Red as they walked to the fancy limo waiting on them.

Red smiled, blushing as he cuddled up. “Thanks...it was my father’s, and then his father’s, and then so on.”

“AH, I RECALL YOU MENTIONING THAT.” He helped Red in first, ducking in after him. Curiously, he reached out, tapping at the brooch lightly. “YOU LIKED TO WEAR IT AS A KID, I TAKE IT?”

Red laughed, leaning onto BB and curling their legs together, chewing on a long piece of licorice. “Sort of. It’s...a little bit of a helper with my powers too, but it’s hard to explain.”

BB shrugged. “THAT’S FINE. WHAT DID YOU HAVE PLANNED AFTER THIS?”

“Nothing,” Red yawned, leaning on BB who happily let him, arm wrapped around Red and tucking him in close. Nothing beyond cuddling up...

~~

_”When I am gone,” his father told him, holding a young Red on his lap during a festival that he wasn’t sure for what, “I will be here.” Fell held out the small glittering rose in his hand. Tiny Red held up his hands, clothed in a Miko uniform as drums clattered around them, and dancers passed by with various chanting echoing around them. Fell himself had a black kimono on with little gold designs._

_“Oohhh…weally?” Red mumbled, happily holding the brooch in his hand as Fell tucked him close, kissing his head._

_“Yes. It is our legacy,” he mumbled, reaching out to take a sippy cup-oddly out of place in the serious and traditional place-to hand to his tiny son full of apple juice. “But only those with our powers do. In turn, it strengthens the next generation. Here.” Red squeaked, trading out the brooch for the sippy cup, happily taking a drink as Fell cradled the rose in hand. “In times of fear or fright, you only need to call upon us, and we shall answer the call.”_

_“To p’ay?” Red giggled and Fell chuckled, kissing his head._

_“No, silly boy,” he sighed. “Only when you’re in danger, or to take revenge. Your brother will be able to handle the physical, but to truly gain victory, banishing their soul to torment from your ancestors is a fitting revenge. But, you don’t have to worry about that now, son.” He hummed, patting Red’s back as the little boy cuddled up closer, little eye sockets drooping despite the loud drums. “Just know that it is a very important rose, and you are a very important little boy.”_

~~

If taking delight in feeling the warmth of the brooch as it ‘ate’ up Fellby’s soul was truly a horrible thing, then Red was happy to be called horrible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a hard time deciding if the brooch was going to be that whole 'host of ancestors fueling your power' thing or a literal soul eater
> 
> so I went for both!
> 
> Sadly, as you had seen, Red had left it the day he had disappeared, so his family couldn't reach him U_U As smart a kid he is, everyone at that age just forgets things.
> 
> Plus, he wasn't lying to BB when he said it's an heirloom. Boss just didn't have the propensity for spiritual matters or psychic powers. But, he'd protect his little brother no matter what UwU


	16. DOctor Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for a check up, and to learn more about fire elementals!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> delving into the world of hybrids in a world I both did not make and yet am contributing to is fascinating and yet
> 
> Hard to figure out  
> but alas.  
> I try.
> 
> also wear your masks, beauties and gentlebeauties. They're cool and make you look like a biker and keep you safe!!

The only reason Red didn’t distrust Doctor Calcifer was the fact that he looked _nothing_ like Fellby.

Doctor Calcifer was...very...odd. He was a very light yellow flame elemental, and instead of very tiny embers for eyes, or ones hidden by glasses, he had his open, and a mouth that moved. It was such a difference from what Red recalled that it knocked the doctor from being any sort of connection to Fellby.

Almost.

He was still fire, and Red wasn’t sure he’d ever be 100% okay around fire again.

But Doctor Calcifer was so fucking nice!!!

Inside the little room (BB had offered to attend, but had to bustle his way in when the nurses suggested he remain outside ‘as you wouldn’t have any interest in it’), Red was on the bedding that raised a tad, keeping him from laying flat. Today he opted for a simple white top and shorts, and BB had on a sweater and jeans, nervously bouncing his leg from where he stood near Red.

The doctor’s office had a photo frame on the desk, and it showed the doctor with his young son, about the size of a three or four year old. That helped Red’s feelings a bit, although he wasn’t sure why.

The doctor himself was amusing as he juggled the odd laptop, slipping it onto the desk. “Well well well!” He clapped his hands, smiling at them both. “I hear we’re having a baby.” He paused. “It’s not tomorrow, is it? If so, we’re a tad late on the draw.”

Red started giggling as BB quirked a grin, shaking his head. “NO, UM, HE THINKS HE’S FOUR MONTHS...ALONG?” He looked at Red who nodded, happily holding BB’s hand as he let one leg dangle on the side of the bed.

“I think so! It was hard to count up the time…”

“I get that a lot,” the doctor said, taking a seat on a stool and rolling over, taking out a penlight with a whistle. “Lemme check your eyes and all the good stuff.” Red sat up a little, letting him shine the light even if he flinched away from the brightness. “Good stuff, good stuff. Yes, with fleshy monsters they often fail to recognize the signs until they’re well into the second month.” He clicked off the light, taking a note on a small notepad. “Not to be too nosy, but there a reason you specifically asked for me? I know there’s some perfectly good skeleton doctors out there.”

Red flushed, shrugging as if he wasn’t sure but BB sighed. “IT’S A SOMEWHAT LONG STORY, BUT THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT IS, THE OTHER PARENT WAS ALSO A FLAME ELEMENTAL.”

Calcifer nodded easily, clicking his tongue as he tapped a finger to his chin. “I see, that can make things difficult. Concerning hybrids, I mean,” he quickly explained as Red started to speak up worriedly. “Hybrids, in general, aren’t too much to worry over, magic knows what it’s doing. However, there are still differences both in their growth and in whether or not to follow one side’s traditions or the other’s.”

BB reluctantly nodded, despite still being a little confused, as Calcifer continued. “Of course, you both know how skeletons grow, being ones yourselves. Fire elementals require ah, wood, and lots of oxygen, and ah…” He paused, rubbing his cheek with his thumb. “Hm, I suppose this is harder to explain. How about we start with the pregnancy and as time goes, we evolve with it, hm?”

Red squeaked. “Yes, please! It’ll be easier, maybe…”

“Very good! Now...” He wheeled over to the desk, digging into a small drawer and taking out a pamphlet, wheeling back over with ease. “So, we give these out to new element parents all the time, this one’s meant for fires.” He passed it to BB so BB could show Red as they looked at it, listening to the doctor. “The first thing we always suggest is keeping an eye on your temperature. If you’re too cold as a water elemental, or too hot for a fire, or feeling…’windy’ as a cloud monster, those are bad signs.”

Red nodded, his hand creeping over his belly a bit. “They’re not too warm, just a little.”

“Oh, you’ll know,” the doctor chuckled. “Feels very hot, it’ll hurt, okay?” Red nodded and Calcifer cleared his throat. “Now, we’ll go month by month, and make a note of what to look out for. For skeletons, this time is when the baby’s form starts to dense up, become ‘real’ I suppose.” He chuckled. “For elementals, around this time the flame will start solidifying into a form as well. For a hybrid, they’ll either group together, or, there’s a real chance that the baby can swing to full skeleton or full fire.”

BB nodded, flipping the pamphlet over so Red could keep reading over the helpful little tips. “HOW WOULD WE KNOW?”

“We’ll find out by the sixth month. By that time, the form should be well and truly settled, and we’ll be able to see them clearly.” The doctor hesitated for a moment, tapping his fingers against his thigh. “There is a very small chance that the hybridization will...not...quite work.”

BB frowned. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN?” Red nervously squeezed his hand as the doctor explained.

“It’s not how you’re thinking, however, if the two...forms,” he held up his hands and tapped his knuckles together, “don’t exactly get along, this can cause various issues to the infant.”

“Will they…” Red didn’t want to finish his question, looking from the doctor to BB and back.

Calcifer shook his head. “No, no! No, if they go past the fifth month, there’s not a reason to worry. What will happen, however, is issues that may affect them through their lives. It can range from running a hot temperature over their bones, or having their flames be condensed in the shape of a skull.” He sighed. “It may not hurt them, or it may give them pain, but from what we’ve seen with other hybrids, we’re able to soothe the pains through monster food and constant healing items.”

“SO IT’S JUST A COIN FLIP THEN,” BB scowled.

Calcifer snorted, grinning slightly. “Every pregnancy is a coin flip from how the bones shape to what color their hair will be to even who they look more of. For now, we’ll focus on if you get much too warm, and if you feel in distress. I would suggest eating warm foods like soup and fresh bread, and don’t let yourself become sedated. Activity is very much needed!” he chirped.

Red nodded, still looking worried. “O-Okay, um, I’ll try…” BB squeezed his hand gently, sharing a soft smile with him as the doctor nodded.

“Good good. Do you want me to check the baby then?”

“Yes!” Red squealed, squirming to sit up farther with BB’s help, and tugged up his shirt with glee. The once purple splotch had started to take a form, and little ghost-like hands would maneuver through Red’s ecto, or tiny feet would appear and tap against him sleepily. Calcifer nodded, taking the penlight and shining over the little fuzzy form with a whistle.

“My my, look at you, little darling.” He hummed, tilting the light a bit here and there. “Yes, right on track for their development stage, skeleton and fire alike. Now, the biggest thing to watch for right now is…” He tilted the light up, shining over where a slope of the skull was forming amongst the purple fuzz, and he pointed. “Here. Every so often, check on their tiny head. What we’re looking for is any wrong formations, like the eye sockets or the teeth. Skull shape for skeletons is no big deal unlike humans, but we do need to keep an eye on development! Much easier this way,” he clicked off the pen and BB quickly nodded.

“WELL, BETWEEN HIS OWN VERY EXCITED BROTHER AND MYSELF, WE’LL ALL KEEP AN EYE ON THE BABY.”

“And Cinnamon!” Red giggled, smoothing his shirt back down eagerly. “He’s excited too!”

“MM, TRUE,” BB conceded, as Calcifer backed up to let Red sit up.

“Wonderful! A good support network is something I always encourage,” he got up, clapping his hands together. “Now, come back if you’re worried, to the hospital for emergencies, and if all goes well, I’ll see you in a month, okay?”

“Okay!” Red smiled. “Thank you!” The doctor nodded, and bowed his head lightly before leaving the room so BB could help Red down off the table. Red smiled at BB. “He said all was good!”

“I KNOW,” BB chuckled, letting Red hold onto him to slip on his shoes. His ankles were aching lately, but even BB knew that was just a symptom of pregnancy. “WELL, I THINK YOU EARNED A TREAT FOR ALL THIS, HM? MORE LICORICE?”

Red giggled, holding onto BB as they walked out of the room. “Hmmm...I have an idea!”

~~

Two tall ice cream floats sat on the table between them, BB sitting with Red on one side as they definitely for sure cuddled. It was a darling little cafe that BB had seen a few times in ads on TV. The floats had Big Red in them and chocolate ice cream, which Red opted to sip on his first. BB hummed, his arm around Red’s shoulders as he took a bite, shivering. “COLD.”

“Yeah!”

BB nodded, twirling the ice cream with his spoon. The table was a soft pink, and the seats were a vibrant red. The cafe was busy but it felt like they were in their own little bubble. “SO...WHAT DO YOU THINK?”

Red shrugged, sipping harder on his float, holding it with both hands. “I dunno yet...what about you?”

BB scoffed, “RED, THEY’RE STILL YOUR BABY EITHER WAY. I’M SURE THEY’LL BE PERFECT.” He blushed after saying so and Red giggled, grinning brightly.

“Aww...I’m sure they will be too!” He sighed, wiggling his straw a bit. “I guess we should...ask about fire names too though. Or no?”

BB hummed, tapping the glass with a finger. “I THINK IT’S IMPORTANT FOR ONE TO LEARN ABOUT ONE’S CULTURE, YES, BUT THEY’LL STILL BE PART OF YOU. SO...HMM. TOUGH ONE. I THINK STICK TO OUR NORMAL FONT NAMING TRADITION,” he nodded. “THERE ARE SOME FIRE TRADITIONS WE MIGHT HAVE TO DO, SURE, BUT THAT’S FOR THE FUTURE, YES?”

Red nodded, blushing as he leaned on BB with a grin. “Thank you for going with me. It was a little nerve-wracking.”

BB tilted his head onto Red’s, hiding his blush. “I KNOW. HOW ABOUT WE TAKE AN EASY DAY AND THEN WORRY ABOUT THE REST LATER?”

“Deal!”

As they ate, the small group of guards at the other table loudly dug into their ice cream, challenging each other to arm wrestling, or flirting with a waitress or two. Ryu of course was sniffling with (fake?) tears going down his face as he jammed a spoon into his sundae. “Ah! It’s so great to hear that the baby is okay!”

“Yeah, boss!” piped up another, who was busy stealing everyone’s cherry from their treats. “And then they’ll get bigger, and be born and then! Um. Then what?” he asked his seatmate, who blinked, scratching his cheek and adjusting his sunglasses.

“Then more babies?”

“MORE?!” Ryu shouted, jamming a foot on the table with an enthusiastic yell. “I DON’T THINK I COULD SURVIVE THE CUTENESS!”

The others loudly agreed with a yell, and the waitress who one was flirting with nervously smiled as she stood near their table, her short brown hair under a cap, wearing a ‘novelty maid’ outfit. “That all sounds wonderful but please, could you not stand on our tables…?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love anime endings UwU
> 
> I won't lie, I hit a bit of a brick wall and had to smash it down with a sledgehammer. I've got a few more ideas but everything seems like it's *so far away* lol. However, I think a fun chapter with Cinnamon and his new pals, The Gang, would be hilarious, yes?
> 
> also dates. lots of dates. more dating for the cuties.


	17. Tanabata

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for Tanabata! What will the group do tonight?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cinnamon bonds with the guards and Red and BB just...have a good time, is that so bad?

‘Two souls, lost to time and to the stars, who fell in love at first sight. One, a gentle weaving princess, the other, a cowherder. They come together this night, for the weaver works tirelessly in order to see her true love one night a year, as bade to her by her father. Should it rain, it is doubtless that bad luck shall fall upon them.

It is this day that we wish upon tanzaku, hanging them and hoping that Orihime and her love may see them and grant them as mercifully as her father granted them to see one another.’

“TANABATA?”

“YES,” Boss explained as one of the various workers took away their plates now that they were done eating for the morning. He was dressed in a fairly fancy Yukata with morning glories in bloom lining the cloth. Red was still waking up, hiding a yawn in his sleep robe which was a fuzzy white today. “IT’S A FESTIVAL WE CELEBRATE DUE TO A...FAIRY TALE, IN MY OPINION,” he cleared his throat. “HOWEVER, ON THIS NIGHT YOU CAN CLEARLY SEE THE AMANOGAWA IN THE SKY, AND IT IS VERY PRETTY. I ASSUMED YOU ALL WOULD LIKE TO TAKE PART.”

BB looked at Red who perked up now that he knew what Boss was talking about. “Is it Tanabata already?! Oh yes, please BB?” He latched onto BB’s arm with wide eyes. “It’s so romantic!”

BB cleared his throat, blushing as Cinnamon snickered across the table. “W-WELL, HOW CAN I SAY NO THEN? VERY WELL. IT WILL GIVE ME AMPLE OPPORTUNITY TO PRACTICE MY JAPANESE AS WELL.”

“VERY GOOD. I’LL ALERT THE GUARDS THEN.” Boss stood then and Red frowned, looking over at him.

“You’re not coming?”

“I HAVE SOME IMPORTANT BUSINESS TO DO…” he hesitated a moment, then went on. “BUT, I SHALL HAVE PLUM TEA WAITING FOR YOU WHEN YOU GET BACK.” Red perked up at that as he left, and Cinnamon chuckled.

“Sooo….what fun awaits us for Tana...bata?”

“Oh it’s very fun!” Red tugged on BB to help him up, which BB happily did, steadying him as they rose. “You write down wishes on paper to hang on the bamboo trees, you can go to the shrines, you can have sno cones...and fireworks!”

Cinnamon bobbed his head as he listened, Red bouncing around as BB ushered them from the dining room. “Sounds like a fair really, but I’m down for it.”

“Then we should go yukata shopping! Something special! And nice!”

“Heh, deal.”

“FINE, BUT GO GET DRESSED FIRST! YOU’LL GIVE THE BABY A COLD!” BB hurriedly shooed Red on to his room, scowling at Cinnamon’s amused grin. “WHAT?”

“Noooothin’,” he whistled, slinking away with his brother huffing at him.

They met up again after getting dressed and headed out to the stalls once more. Red had found a favorite and picked up a yukata with spring blossoms elegantly laid around it. “Hmm...what do you think?”

BB looked at it, tilting his head. “MM. WILL THE OBI BE TOO TIGHT?”

“Oh you’re right, I should...ask for a maternity one if they have it.” BB nodded as they put it back up, heading to the front for the owner.

She did have a set, a gently folded yukata with streaks of purple with tiny stars dotting the dark cloth. “This has cotton sewn in, and the obi is made in a way to accent the belly rather than restrict it.”

“Ooohh,” Red said, touching it gently. BB wasn’t so sure that was...you know, a thing with obis, but unfortunately he didn’t know that much about said clothing to argue with her. Rather, he quickly plastered on a grin when Red turned to him. “I like it! Which one did you find?”

It had plum trees drawn on it with a dark green background, it was very soft to the touch as well. He also grabbed Cinnamon one (he knew Cinnamon had split with ‘the guys’ to go and check out the talking parrot across the way), something light orange with vines wrapping around.

They had to cajole Cinnamon and the others into going. Ryu kept petting the bird and calling him ‘the SWEETEST and CUTEST BIRD EVER’ loudly as the others agreed, but Red made a pouty face about being late for Tanabata so they packed up quickly and headed back home.

It wouldn’t have taken so long to get ready had they not had the guards as well on their tail. The mysterious Anna had sent yukatas for all the men to wear in various star formations, which was really nice had they not decided to loudly profess what amazing clothing they now owned.

And complimented Red’s own outfit, which was ALSO very very nice, but kept causing him to stop in the middle of tying it and thus taking longer.

Boss had to put his foot down and sent them all to various rooms to change, finally returning the home to quiet it once owned, at least for a little while. Cinnamon had snuck off to go and ‘help’ but was in all reality probably teaching them how to gamble online through their phones.

He was odd like that.

Red held up the ends of the obi. “BB, could you…?”

“SURE, HANG ON.” He tossed down a book he had been holding, heading around the couch. He took up the obi and wrapped his arms around Red, folding it around him slowly. “TELL ME IF IT’S TOO TIGHT.”

“No, it’s okay,” Red smiled, holding his arms up a bit to keep out of the way. He pointed out where to fold it and how, shifting and adjusting himself in BB’s hold until he was done, a simple bow on Red’s back. “How do I look?”

“PERFECT,” BB pressed a kiss to his cheek, a hand sweeping over Red’s belly. “HOW’S BABY FEELING?”

“Good!” Red gushed, nearly bouncing on his heels. “They’re a little sleepy I think, but they’re not stressed so we’re good!”

“GOOD.” With another kiss, they were finally finished changing. With a tiny satchel carrying change (and a larger one tucked into BB’s obi hiding their actual money), they were headed off to the festival!

The sun was slowly setting but had yet to really allow the stars to shine by the time they made it to the festival. Red pointed at Ryu and and the others. “You all stay back! It’s a romantic night, a date!”

“YOSH!” Ryu posed with his wooden sword, sparkles appearing from nowhere. “We will be AT MOST…ten feet away, young miko-san!”

“Nooo!” Red huffed, stomping a foot. “Go do other things, far away!” He hugged onto BB with a huff. “So we can do things!”

“So...twelve feet away?”

“Ugh!” Red tugged on BB. “Let’s go!”

Cinnamon shrugged when the group looked at him as BB was helplessly dragged away into the crowd of people. “Eh. I’ve never been. What’s good?”

BB chuckled, gently patting Red’s hand on his arm as he was pulled along. “THEY ONLY WANT TO HELP. YOUR BROTHER’S STILL SCARED AFTER ALL.”

Red rolled his eyes, stopping them near a booth with cotton candy and other treats dangling from the ceiling. “I know that...it’s just like when I was little. Never left alone and stuff. But you’re here!” Red grinned up at him with little stars in his eye sockets. “You’ll protect me!”

“OF COURSE,” BB kissed his hand with a wink. “BUT, A HELPING HAND WON’T HURT. BESIDES, THEY’RE VERY...GOOD AT BLENDING IN SO I’VE SEEN.”

Red huffed, shrugging. “I guess. I want some smoked eel!”

They ordered some treats as the group dragged Cinnamon to a little fishing game. “THIS!” Ryu pointed with his sword excitedly, his hair bouncing in that weird way it tended to do. “Is the greatest game you will ever find!”

“ ‘cept the other fish game!” Jinrah piped up, a semi-large man with a crooked nose and a constant need for bubblegum. “Like that fish game.”

“Okay, yes, that game is fun too-”

“What about the boom boom the clown?!” Shreh asked. They were tall and thin with dark curly hair that escaped their wool cap constantly. “Like that clown!”

“Okay so all the games are good!” Ryu waved his sword threateningly at them as Cinnamon paid the very bored looking man to play the game. “But this is the BEST! Okay?!”

“Right, boss!” they all agreed, crowding around Cinnamon as he grabbed up the wooden pole.

“So all I do is...pull up the string?”

“Yup,” the man muttered, a stream of smoke exiting his mouth.

Cinnamon did.

He won a tiny plastic fish with kanji he couldn’t make out carved into it. He turned it around.

‘Carper the Fish’

He gave it to Ryu who nearly cried in happiness. That was one of the fish he was missing in his collection!!

Red and BB had made it to a little fish catching game. BB raised an eye ridge. “HOW DO YOU PLAY THIS?”

“Like this!” came the muffled answer, as Red had bit into his eel. He dug around for some G, happily taking up the net the owner gave him. “It’s a paper net, so you have to be super careful…” He dipped it in the water, slowly waving it.

One of the fish torpedoed through it.

Red whined as BB laughed, patting his back. “I’M SORRY. I’LL GET YOU A FISHY.”

“Get that pretty one!” Red pointed. It was a lovely little fish with odd fins but brightly rainbowed in the light.

It looked like it chewed through the hole, lazily swimming through the hole it created. BB stared at the paper hoop as the man offered another to try. “UH...HUH…” He dipped it in, cursing as he missed the slow swimming fish.

On the other end, not too far away mind you, was Cinnamon and the gang. Shreh had gotten their wish of the water gun game, and they were busy goading and cheering Cinnamon on as he filled the clown’s mouth with water to pop a balloon. 

His prize was a giant purple gorilla and oddly, Ryu’s respect.

“HUP!” With a stroke of luck, BB managed to flip the little fish onto the hoop, and quickly bagged it. Said fish was cheerfully swimming in circles as Red clapped.

“Huzzah!”

BB puffed up, happy to have won it for Red. “WELL, THAT WAS VERY INVIGORATING. NOW WHERE TO?”

“This way!” Red quickly dragged them away. The night wore on, several children racing through the crowd and giggling, a few adults warning them to slow down. With the night came even more excitement, as Red tugged BB (and their new fish named Bow) up onto a small hill nearby. “This is perfect!”

“FOR WHAT?” BB cupped the little baggie where the fish swam. Did fish sleep? He wondered that as Red took a blanket from seemingly nowhere to plop onto the ground.

“Fireworks! Come sit, sit!” He patted the blanket and BB took a seat. They had bought a few snacks on their way there, so they were set out on the blanket as well. Red snuggled up close, nuzzling into his neck as they hugged up. BB offered a bite of cotton candy and Red eagerly took it.

A firework burst into the sky, catching several people off guard until they caught on, then several cheers erupted through the festival grounds. Another, then another, then one that appeared as a dragon in the sky.

Truly, a wonderful end to the day.

(A kiss as well, sweetened by candy and the thumping of their souls.)

~~

Boss peeked up as he heard the crackle of fireworks, a grin quirking on his face. He no longer needed Tanabata, no.

His wish had been fulfilled.

What more could he need?

A small paper lay crumpled at the bottom of his wastebasket.

‘PLEASE LET MY BROTHER COME HOME’

It was faded, and the words barely recognizable any longer, but it had remained...and his wish, granted.

He went and prepared some tea for Red for when he got back.

~~

‘I wish good health for my baby’

‘I WISH MY FAMILY TO BE HAPPY’

‘I wish good things for everyone’

The bamboo, laden with slips of paper, ruffled idly in the wind that picked up. The leaves would guard the fragile paper from the elements, and if one dared to peek up the staircase towards the shrine, perhaps they would have seen two people, hand in hand, almost celestial in appearance, studying each and every paper with the dedication one has when one has an important exam in the morning.

Perhaps they would see them indeed, but only for a moment.

They had important things to tend to after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Perhaps your wish will be fulfilled. Write it down, let it known, let the universe guide you to it.
> 
> Write it in an origami swan and let it swim into the river.
> 
> Write it in your dreams, and let them take you on an adventure.
> 
> Write it, for sometimes we believe our wishes are silly or stupid or even selfish, but they are our wishes, so let them free and let the wind take them far and wide.
> 
> What are wishes, after all, if not hope for something?


End file.
